This entry was posted on
Tuesday, June 17th, 2003 at
8:30 am and is filed
under Uncategorized.
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Date
20030617
Time
08:30
My Domokun Kettle arrived this morning. I plan on using it at the office. When I get one.
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Date
20030617
Time
08:31
Man stabbed to death during chess game. Police say men ‘may have been drinking.’
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Date
20030617
Time
08:33
OK, so only 33 items were really stolen from the Iraqi National Museum (not counting the loot already in place at the British Museum) but I’m pretty sure that the 350 animals missing from Baghdad zoo weren’t spirited away into a cellar for safekeeping.
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Date
20030617
Riding High on Blogdex
Time
08:39
Hatfields and McCoys sign truce.
Is my memory playing tricks on me, or had a truce already been signed decades ago?
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Date
20030617
Time
08:41
Homeless serving as billboards. They’re paid in pizza, soda and ‘a few dollars.’ I’ll bet you more than a few dollars that they’re paid significantly less than your average human billboard.
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Date
20030617
Time
08:44
18th century emoticon found.
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Date
20030617
Delays, Delays, Delays
Time
08:45
Man stalks woman 30 years after taking her to the prom. He told police he had been trying to get the ‘nerve up’ to ask her out.
Man spends 5 years awaiting trial for murder. He was aquitted in 15 minutes.
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Date
20030617
Time
08:49
What is it with drive-throughs and crime? This undercover officer spent close to a month dressed as a McDonald’s employee. Keeping a sharp eye out for naughty behaviour in customers’ cars, he made six arrests and issued 29 citations. The (law-abiding) owner of the restaurant didn’t know anything about it, and now he’s as mad as hell.
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Date
20030617
Time
08:55
Interaction with people from different walks of live and access to multiple channels of communication is widening our personal political spectrum. For me, the main effect of the Interwebnet is an overwhelming disappointment that none of the related graphs are shaped like a willy.
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Date
20030617
Christianity Watch
Time
08:59
Cherbear’s Den is absolutely the final word in Christian children’s literature and fine illustration. The Kids Cave and Teen Caverns warrant special attention.
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Date
20030617
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
09:05
The Times reports on Tom Watson’s weblog. This link requires paid registration from dirty foreigners, so here’s the guts of it:
“With perhaps half a million people in the UK sharing their thoughts via personal weblogs, it is remarkable that elected politicians are failing to use the medium to communicate more vital matters with their constituents. They could publish when and what they wanted, offer instant comment on the day’s news, and push the issues that concern them. Yet only Tom Watson, MP for West Bromwich East, is currently doing so.”
I’m hoping to change this situation very, very soon.
UPDATE – Take time out of your day to welcome Richard Allan MP to the wonderful world of weblogs. I was very impressed by the very early post about Blog Aims.
BTW, I found this via my now-daily use of Technorati, which brought up this post by Simon Willison. Simon notes with a knowing smile that Richard is a Liberal Democrat spokesman on information technology. Perhaps he can have a word with his colleague Lembit Öpik, who is aware of the technology but has yet to bite the bullet.
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Date
20030617
Time
12:25
Like me, you’ve probably received a few variations of this email from the ‘invincible spammer,’ with wonderfully endearing passages such as:
”Why are we so successful?? 1. Because, simply put, NO ONE can bring us down! And 2. Because we and because when you get right down to it, PEOPLE ARE LIKE SHEEP, and if the “sheep” get enough e-mail shoved at them, the sheep WILL become customers!”
On closer inspection, these repeat emails seem to be part of what is known as a ‘Joe Job’ (where someone sends spam while posing as another web user in order to get that user into trouble). Folks in news.admin.net-abuse.email seem to think so, too.
In fact, given that it taunts the user so blatantly and follows this with a comprehensive list of contact addresses and personal phone numbers – and targets one of the few spammers to actually make the news (Richard Schueler: 1, 2) – I’d say this is a pretty fair bet.
Then again, it could very well be the world’s cheekiest double-bluff.
The ‘victims’ (myrxbiz.com) are, after all, able to proudly claim that they run the ‘#1 online pharmacy affiliate program’ and still keep a straight face.
Sure, I could follow the money by doing a WHOIS of all the URLs linked in the mail or maybe chase up who runs the 1-800 numbers you have to call to ‘unsubcribe from this genuine opt-in list,’ but life is too short.
If anyone comes across a site obsessive enough to nail this one down, do please drop me a line. I’d love to see how the whole thing turns out.
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Date
20030617
Flash Music Video
Time
14:09
OK… Spain. Have we done Spain yet?
Viva el pop geek!
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Date
20030617
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
15:48
Technorati tells me that Richard Allan is already enjoying fresh linkage from Al and Lance. Richard has also been kind enough to blogroll me. Can you feel the love, brethren?
I’d also like to introduce you all to the freshly formed weblog of James Mills, Conservative Councillor for Standlake, Aston & Stanton Harcourt.
Both Richard and James have been added to the Why Politicians Need Weblogs page.
While we’re on the subject, do check out the eye-straining but thought-provoking ‘e-Democracy exchange’ over at Big Blogger. The recent Cluetrain-inspired post is dead-on.
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Date
20030617
Time
16:15
Ahahahahaha! A great find by Tom: The Italian arm of Powergen is available at the following wonderful, wonderful URL. Amazingly, no-one thought to add a dash where it would do the most good:
www.powergenitalia.com
This is not only highly embarrassing for Powergen; it has also robbed a potential penis-enlarging spammer of a valuable and downright catchy domain name.
(And before you threadwaste… it’s already been posted to B3ta 1,263 times. Don’t bother. Bloody hell – and now I see that it was in Friday’s NTK. How the hell did I miss that?)
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Date
20030618
Time
08:41
Earn yourself 10 grand by pimping your girl friends.
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Date
20030618
Does What It Says On The Tin
Time
08:42
www.bootlegactionfigures.com
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Date
20030618
Riding High on Blogdex
Time
08:45
We’re all a bunch of lying sickos. We all steal, too. Best quote from the former article?
“So which is the bigger threat to America? The big companies or the criminals at the computer?”
I think the biggest threat is, and always has been, people with their head so far up their arse that they can see what’s for breakfast tomorrow. I found it quite interesting that, after this regular ‘Memo’ piece, he didn’t have time for ‘The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day.’
UPDATE – Here’s another blogger’s thoughts on Mr O’Reilly’s rant, which links to an even better point-by-point post by yet another blogger. Follow your nose.
UPDATE 2 – This MSNBC article is even better. It intertwines with blogger’s comments, and even uses Technorati to guide you to more recent information. I’d like to see more of this – and not just in articles about the Interwebnet.
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Date
20030618
Time
08:52
“I’m gonna get Truckasaurus on yo ass, boy!”
Business owner chases and runs over robbery suspects in his Humvee. (Includes wonderful picture and even better reader survey: ‘Should a business owner who ran over a group of robbery suspects in his Hummer face charges?’)
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Date
20030618
Time
09:02
Shit! Look at the time!
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Date
20030618
Frequently Arsed Questions
Time
09:03
“Why can’t I make comments on your weblog?”
Because I want you to make comments on yours. Oh, you don’t have a weblog? Well, now we’re getting closer to the point…
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Date
20030618
Time
09:09
The great Blogspot Exodus. Dean’s pushing the hard stuff. Well worth the move, IMO. I’m thinking of doing the same (but I’ll still be hiding my archives from Google). Only problem is, I blog like a bloody madman. There’s months and months of material to shift over to any new format, and even with a clever macro device of some sort, it would still take about 6 weeks to modify and transfer all of the old data. For now, I think I’ll stick to being somewhat of an anachronism. Unless, of course, anyone wants to pay me to take 6 weeks off work…
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Date
20030618
Time
09:16
From a journalist who was at last week’s blog conference…
Companies get into weblog act:
“The best blogs don’t just deliver authoritative information; they resonate with the personalities of their creators.”
Well said.
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Date
20030618
Time
09:26
‘Virgin Mary in hospital window’ claim poo-pooed by the Vatican.
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Date
20030618
Time
09:29
Man keeps wife captive for two years in impenetrable fortress fashioned from boards, nails, combination padlocks, and quite a few sheets of aluminium foil. What, no duct tape?
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Date
20030618
Time
09:32
George Bush looks to be gearing up for the next election: a new program is set to expand the internet-voting capability of military and overseas voters. If you’ve read Stupid White Men, you’ll know why this is so significant.
Incidentally, just before the war, Michael Moore’s forums were down ‘temporarily’ for ‘technical reasons.’ Now the forums have been completely removed from the navigation bar like they never existed at all. This, we can assume, has also been done purely for ‘technical reasons.’
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Date
20030618
Tony Blair’s Email
Time
09:49
Still no word from Tim Yeo. Tomorrow, it will be a full week since I emailed him. Don’t make me get angry, Tim.
BTW, some good did come of the lame stunt. A statement came from No.10 that went beyond the ‘in the new year’ promise that we’re all so familiar with. Someone, somewhere, let slip with the promise of delivery ‘in the coming weeks.’
I plan on holding them to that.
So, do you think that I should give them 2, 4 or 6 weeks before cutting loose again with a fresh clue-by-four? Emails to the usual address.
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Date
20030618
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
11:23
Here’s someone who just started a blog and three or four posts in he asks his MP to do the same:
“These are people that represent us. We voted for them. I think this is a fantastic way for people to have access to them and get to know them a bit better. I have no idea how my MP usually votes, or where he stands on most issues. If I read his/her weblog frequently, I think I’d be in a better position to judge whether I wanted that person to represent me.”
This certainly is turning out to be a jolly week.
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Date
20030618
Telemarketers
Time
11:26
“Hello, is Mr Bacon there?”
This cute article includes a link for people who want to go on a no-call list in North Dakota. There are links to a bunch of other state-by-state services here. Why no national service like we have here in the UK? What am I missing?
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Date
20030618
Time
12:25
Yet another new blog tool. Like Blogdex, only faster. Thanks, Rich.
Pretty snappy stuff, but it lacks one important feature that makes Blogdex the Daddy – the ability to roll over a charted link to see a range of comments from different linkers and also click through to a page that lets me see a more comprehensive breakdown of who said what as they linked.
Did you get all that?
Sorry, someone’s using a weed-whacker outside my window, and it’s very hard to think straight WITH ALL THIS BLOODY NOISE!
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Date
20030618
Time
14:40
Taliban staging a wilful comeback. I saw a bit of news on this last night. The U.S. still has troops in the region, but I’m not sure if they’re the best and brightest. One marine who was interviewed by the BBC said:
“The locals like to come out and take pop-shots at us.”
The filthy beasts!
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Date
20030618
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
14:47
Plenty of link love is rolling in for Richard Allan. Ernie the Attorney enhanced his link with some excellent comments:
“This blogging thing isn’t for every politician. Some politicians have specialised handlers that control the press, or at least control it sufficiently to ‘get their message out.’ They don’t worry if the press doesn’t get into detail because there is no detail being given out. If you have a simplistic message, then you sure as hell don’t want to post it on the web where people can see it for what it is. Blogs are as interesting to those types of politicians as sunshine is to cockroaches.”
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Date
20030618
Spamwatch
Time
16:14
CP Direct managed to shift $74 million in penis/breast/ego/etc. enlarging pills, and would be operating still had they not decided to also illegally charge consumers’ credit cards.
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Date
20030618
Tony Blair’s Email
Time
16:39
I’ve just checked my ‘Sent Items’ folder and it looks like Tim Yeo has until about midday tomorrow to get back to me by email before a full week has passed. Right now I’m standing by and ready to start ‘shopping.
You don’t necessarily have to apologise, Tim – just practice what you preach and answer my bloody email!
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Date
20030619
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
00:07
The following is a reply to an email questioning a number of matters relating to political weblogs. The person I’m replying to is quite right to play devil’s advocate, but to prove my point I pretty much had to go public with the reply.
The original email (that I’m not at liberty to blog) questioned the motives of politicians who might in future set out to abuse this channel in the same way that those loveable rascals from Richards Interactive did with the Raging Cow fiasco. It also questioned the true effectiveness of ‘mere’ online support, citing the recent failure of Gary Hart to secure that all-important nomination. Howard Dean may have garnered some beefy support of ye olde-fashioned new-meedja nature, but Gary Hart is currently the only U.S. politician with a genuine weblog. You want proof that it’s genuine? Try the tone of this:
” In the coming days I will be returning the many contributions that were made to this website and to our effort. I know that many of you have many charities you are supporting. If you choose to do so, you might consider sending all or part of your original contribution to me to one of the several very worthy efforts I support…”
If I’m wrong or even just kind of weak on any front, please feel free to comment. On your own damn weblog.
Sorry there’s no permalink. If enough people ask nicely, I’ll draw up a static page.
Cheers all.
Note – This entry will be forward-dated to midnight (once it passes) to simplify my archives. I have some rather dull and quite demanding work to do tomorrow, so this could well be the only post for the 19th. Sorry about that.
Hey (insert name here),
As it happens, I’ve been thinking about quite a few of the points you’ve raised (just in the last 24 hours) because the recent appearance of another MP’s weblog just raised the bar.
I’m not sure if I blogged this point or sent it off to a marketing mailing list, but I have acknowledged that there is a honeymoon period that will not last. The only other MP to get that ‘hey, look!’ effect automatically will be a Conservative MP.
After this, it will be a race to engage. A good thing, then, that engagement is the key.
Distancing myself from the creation of Tom’s blog, then, I can honestly tell you that I have become more interested in him as a person. Granted, I’ve had the rare privilege of facetime with the man, but a good blog can have this same effect.
Because I have established a relationship with Tom, I’m prepared to lend him my ear from time to time about matters that may or may not interest me. (If you’re married, I’m sure you can relate.)
As a result, I’ve read quite a few documents and pretty much ‘sat in’ on a few debates that I otherwise wouldn’t have given a damn about. A simple morphing of the ‘press release’ section into a faux-blog does not achieve this. Who’d visit? Who’d care?
The same goes for my blog – and you’ll have to trust me when I tell you that I have experienced the flipside. When I went into a recent spiral of political turmoil and introspection, I noticed my regular readership dropping considerably. There was far too much of ‘I think this!’ and not enough ‘Hey, isn’t this interesting?’
Talk of kittens has its place, and plays an important role.
We as readers have to be given a sense of person as well as purpose. Radio and television have allowed past politicians to express aspects of this in the past and – granted – many may have succeeded purely because of their ability to ‘play’ on their chosen communication channel.
Churchill understood the value of radio and played it well. It has been alleged that he actually had a voiceover stand-in for many broadcasts – but no-one was free to talk back to their radio.
Kennedy made great TV. This kept that supreme arsehole Nixon at bay for a time, but those small voices who would perhaps mention that they worked as an intern but were mostly paid to give the JFK blowjobs had no way to speak out (if, indeed, there were a time when their mouths weren’t full).
The closest precedent I can cite is the advent of moveable type leading to the publication of Bibles for everyone. Not just media owners (sorry, better make that ‘religious leaders’).
Suddenly everyone was free to read and interpret this all-powerful book. And publish their own thoughts on its true meaning.
Some of the biggest opinion formers of this time where known as ‘pamphleteers.’
We, as bloggers, are the pamphleteers of the 21st century.
Added, the blog system is self-correcting. Even if Google discounts them (a paranoid claim by a complete arsehole that has recently been refuted) people have had a taste of what they can offer. They will seek out an aggregator of a similar nature if they are robbed of it via their usual channel.
Blogs give everyone a voice. And a willingness to listen. When it counts.
A politician is not a god. Or even a demi-god. They need help to make things happen. I’ve seen this happen in some small way on Tom’s blog when he took on the local store with a litter problem and in many other ways on my own site.
It can also happen in a larger sense, as when folks search for info on air gun laws and are drawn via Google to Tom’s posts on the matter.
But if we don’t give a damn about Tom as a person, then we’re not going to get off our arse for him, now are we?
It also has to be added here that nothing really happens as a result of a mere link or search result.
But…
People exposed to ‘exclusive’ information in any shape or form often feel empowered enough to tell others about it. Not just by email, not just via their blog; but in real life as well.
If the information proves to be valuable, then these people draw an audience. A real-life audience. An audience that listens.
They knew first about this. They warned you about that. They’re worth listening to. This is how one small spark can spread to people actually willing to do something beyond committing to the Jedi religion for a laugh.
Another ‘but’…
I’ve tried to drive a few things forward on Bloggerheads, and it’s only the core audience that actually does anything. If what I try to do is too damn commercial or somewhat misguided, then I’m usually questioned or corrected (gently) on these matters.
If I try to do something Right, suddenly I find myself with new core members. Funny, that.
I’ve got to tell you, this is the best moral compass I have ever come across.
Being in the marketing game (maybe one evolutionary step up or down from the political game) I’m often prone to corruption.
Now I simply can’t afford to take that risk – but I’m enjoying greater benefits than I ever have before. And. I. Fucking. Love it!
Now I can simply float an idea to see who wants to make it a reality.
Now I can engage people all over the globe and actually make things happen.
But only if I strike the right chord.
There’s this feeling you get when you first encounter the Interwebnet. That ‘wow, millions of users at my fingertips’ feeling that leads to so many misguided missives about politics, religion, or the latest way to enlarge your penis.
Most of these are drowned in everyday noise and die a deserving death, but those that matter do rise to the top.
A human voice cannot be faked (and even if it can at a level enough to fool some, this deception is sure to be mentioned by those who are a little smarter about such things).
The result?
This is honest, unedited information, but open to comment that can lead to the growth, or destruction, of any given idea.
The more reasonable and/or altruistic the idea, the more likely it is to succeed.
The catch?
The idea – and the person delivering it – have to be pretty damn engaging and worthy of our trust.
If they aren’t, well, we’re sure to hear about that instead.
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Date
20030619
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
00:10
Al has, as suggested, blogged his letter to his local representative asking them to get blogging.
Sorry, I forgot to use the word ‘blog’ there.
BLOG!
Happy now?
I’ve yet to do the same, but as I’ve already emailed, called and hounded Sue Doughty’s office for months on this matter, I fear any new messages may be taken out of context. They’d probably start with ‘Oi!’ and go downhill fast from there.
(For pity’s sake! Her office is 10 minutes away from my webshed, and I can pretty much turn up there at a moment’s notice. Can she not find the time to at least talk to me about this?)
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Date
20030619
Time
00:21
It’s not often that El Reg will place a plug so blatantly, but here, it’s well-deserved. As Scott notes, £171 ain’t much – but it’s a start.
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Date
20030619
Time
08:38
Wow. Now every day can be May Day. I’m just about to post this to the Urban75 forums.
“Hey where did all these people come from? Wait a minute – where did everybody go?”
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Date
20030619
It’s War! And We’re Ready To Believe Anything!
Time
08:43
Place not your trust in common sense:
A third of the American public believes U.S. forces have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
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Date
20030619
Voice Of Experience
Time
08:49
You may wish to keep the following in mind:
It is not a good idea to teach your spell checker dirty words.
I got into the habit a long time ago of clicking the ‘Add’ button instead of ‘Ignore’ if a non-dictionary word cropped up here or there (this saves me time if I wish to use non-dictionary words like, say, ‘blog’).
However… because I have been known to use filthy language in the past and have out of sheer habit added an unsavoury word or two to the dictionary, yesterday I came *this* close to sending an email warning that: ‘there are sections that may need to be felched out.’
The danger is there. You have been warned.
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Date
20030619
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
08:54
Take a sneaky-peek into the life of an MP:
Questions to the PM: The Limelight Lottery
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Date
20030619
Tony Blair’s Email
Time
09:46
This is a picture of Tim Yeo. It will change before your very eyes in just over two hours from now. Unless, of course, he gets off his bum and emails me before then.
UPDATE – The Guardian is at it again. Check out the following back-handed acknowledgement:
“Tim Yeo, shadow trade and industry secretary, last week followed a legion of cyber bores in pointing out that Tony Blair does not have a public email address.”
Legion are we? Boring is it?
“Like most good political japes, Yeo’s stunt scores because it exposes a genuine weakness.”
Ex-squeeze me? Bloggerheads exposed this weakness months and months and months and months ago. And that was only step one. But obviously this doesn’t count because it’s just another sodding website.
If it weren’t for the push from Bloggerheads and support from readers (including one or two MPs), Blair’s communications team would not be moving on this at all. At all.
Eight months of my life hijacked by a Conservative with a bloody Hotmail address. I’m getting increasingly upset about this.
Tim Yeo is an asshat. And he eats children’s eyeballs.
(I know I’m an hour early with the first pic, but dammit I’m angry.)
Tim Yeo wants to be involved with the project? Fine. Then he should be prepared to get naked. A lot.
He wants publicity? He’s going to get it in spades.
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Date
20030619
The Tim Yeo Project
Time
12:02
Right, there you have it. A week has passed. Tim Yeo, the man so concerned about the PM’s lack of email address, can’t even answer his own bloody email.
He doesn’t even have a website. But we can soon fix that.
UPDATE – Yup, we sure can. Tim Yeo – The Weblog is live. That took about 5 minutes. About the same amount of time it takes to set up a Hotmail address. I feel so dirty.
A week is a long time in politics. This time next week, search results for ‘Tim Yeo’ are going to be interesting to say the least.
Far be it from me to steal material from another website, but this just has to be said:
I’m about to get 21st century on his ass.
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Date
20030619
A Blog Is Born
Time
13:31
Hooray! Long-time Usenutter ickle sheep has just started a blog. You’ll like ickle. We’ve shared beer on many occasions. It’s not easy with only one straw, but we get by.
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Date
20030619
Tim Yeo: Campaign Hijacker
Time
15:53
A special page has been created to acknowledge Tom Yeo’s grand contribution to the Tony Blair email campaign. The first nude image is already live. When will the nonsense end? When I get due credit for work done to date – and an apology from Tim Yeo – on the Conservatives website and in at least one major newspaper.
Lesson to be learned: If you mess with a turtle, expect to get flippered.
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Date
20030619
Flash Music Video
Time
17:06
JPEG Baby is only getting about 500 views a day at the mo, but perhaps it’s worth considering a suitable replacement for Terry Wogan. Now, let me see, who would make an excellent candidate…
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Date
20030620
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
07:43
Whoa! Cool your jets, people.
I was worried this might happen. Ickle has started a weblog on behalf of his MP. I’ve actually considered this as an option to push the whole MP weblog thing forward, but caution is required.
If there’s a sudden rash of weblogs ‘on behalf of’ MPs that show what they should be doing, then this could very well work – but if the only story that reaches them has a negative spin (e.g. ‘Weblogs Attack MPs’), then that’s all they’re going to want to know about weblogs and they’re going to run a mile.
If you’re going to do this, do try to show your fluffy side, folks. Help them to understand weblogs. Make them want a weblog. You may also want to link to Richard Allan and Tom Watson in the nav-bar so they can see what a real MP weblog looks like. Above all, be nice.
Unless, of course, the MP in question is, say, a hijacking hypocrite who’s stolen 8 months of your work for his own benefit. In which case, feel free to go completely bonkers. Who am I to say no?
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Date
20030620
Time
07:52
Scott never learned Oatmeal Box Pinhole Photography at school. I did. (Nerny-nerny-ner-ner!) In fact, I went to a school for gifted children, so we were trusted to (*gasp*) actually make our own box.
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Date
20030620
Clue-By-Four Required
Time
07:56
Oh, FFS. Some idiot company just hassled groovymother.com for using the word ‘clue by four’ because – wait for it – they own the trademark and are ‘in the process of bringing that product to market.’
They’re sure to be after me next. There’s quite a few indexed references from Bloggerheads in Google’s database and countless others in my archives.
Well, good luck to them. I have the feeling they’re going to be their own best customer.
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Date
20030620
Time
08:08
U.S. Rep. Mark Foley targets nudist summer camp for teenagers. There’s more info about the camp in this article by the New York Times (requires registration).
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Date
20030620
Time
08:13
Police shut down little girl’s lemonade stand. She didn’t have a temporary business permit. Seriously.
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Date
20030620
Murdoch is a Bastard
Time
08:15
Media bill under threat as Lords warm to ‘Murdoch’ amendment. Hurray for the House of Lords! May Dog bless one of our few remaining safety-valves.
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Date
20030620
Tim Yeo’s Hotmail Account Terminated
Time
08:23
Oh dear, whatever can this mean?
This Message was undeliverable due to the following reason:
Each of the following recipients was rejected by a remote mail server.
The reasons given by the server are included to help you determine why each recipient was rejected.
Recipient: rthontonyblairmp@hotmail.com
Reason: Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable
Perhaps it has something to do with this:
Hello Tim ,
We have taken appropriate action in accordance with the MSN Terms of Use (TOU) on the account: rthontonyblairmp@hotmail.com that you reported.
You can view our rules and regulations at:
http://privacy.msn.com/tou/default.asp
MSN Hotmail Customer Support
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Date
20030620
Time
08:27
A third of of Australians cruise through life stoned. It’s the only way to silence the voices…
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Date
20030620
Tim Yeo: Campaign Hijacker
Time
09:32
The Tim Yeo Nude Gallery has been updated with the following image entitled: ‘Modesty Above All.’
We thank you.
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Date
20030620
Time
10:04
Senator Hatch, the man who wants to blow up your computer if you use copyrighted material without permission, uses an unlicensed copy of a JavaScript menu system on his official website. (Cheers to Mark for the heads-up. I missed it on Blogdex this morning.)
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Date
20030620
It’s War! And Somebody’s Telling Porkies!
Time
14:18
Christian Science Monitor: Galloway papers deemed forgeries. I just heard on the radio that good ol’ George has refused to accept their apology. But the Telegraph is standing its ground, too. They claim that their document is completely different from the six pages upon which the CSM based its story. The Telegraph document was also tested by CSM, and judged to be ‘genuine.’ And, we can assume, mysteriously fire-proof.
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Date
20030620
Flash Music Video
Time
16:03
JPEG Baby is getting hundreds and hundreds of lovely visitors, thanks to pluggage by Vancouver radio station, 99.3 the FOX. A big hello to everybody who made it to the main blog.
HELLLLOOOOOOO!
We’d like you to hassle more radio stations, please. Call and request ‘JPEG Baby’ today. We want worldwide airplay without a record deal. Just to make a point.
Total page views since launch: 57,570
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Date
20030620
Time
16:18
Google calls in the ‘language police’. Fair enough, this one – they created the word. But to be included in the dictionary and used in everyday language is actually pretty cool. Almost priceless when it means free plugs on TV shows like ER. And it helps Robbie Williams to get laid. That’s got to be a good thing. The poor guy meets women in the U.S. and when he first gives them his name they (probably) usually say: “You know, you’re not as old/hairy/funny as I thought you would be. Go on, do ‘Mork’ for me.”
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Date
20030620
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
17:55
From Richard Allan, Lib-Dem MP and blogger:
“It has been a splendid first week’s blogging. I’ve had more comments in one week than my regular website received in months – I knew the format was strong but am still mightily impressed.
“And, what’s more, I’ve really enjoyed it! It really is a very engaging way to carry on a conversation with lots of people on subjects of mutual interest.”
More words of wisdom at the blog itself. Go visit. If you’re an MP, pay attention!
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Date
20030621
Tim Yeo – Where Is The Apology?
Time
00:37
Tim, don’t talk to your lawyers. They just want money.
Me…? I just want an apology..
Just email me like a goddamn gentleman, and I guarantee that you will be amazed at how fast things can change.
Do nothing, and I guarantee that you will be amazed at how fast things can change.
One email. You remember email, don’t you? You were hassling the PM about it just last week….
In fact, if you get off your arse fast enough, you can be the first ever Conservative MP with a weblog – plus win a massive and appreciative audience into the bargain! And all you have to do is (*shock-horror*) admit that you’re human.
And do you know what?
If you won’t be the first Conservative MP with a weblog, somebody else from your party will.
However…
If you step up to the plate now… If you present yourself honestly.. If you get online and Join. The. Sodding. Conversation… you can not only turn this thing around, you can give me a genuine nosebleed.
Walk the walk. Embrace technology. Start a weblog.
Conversations are the future. Come and talk with us, or stand back and watch us talk about you. At length. With illustrations.
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Date
20030622
Time
12:18
Police have arrested a man who gatecrashed Prince William’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle last night. Please, please, please let this unnamed man be Karl Power.
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Date
20030622
Time
12:22
Bloggerheads is now listed at blogwise.com (the specific listing is here). I’ll have a play with the system tomorrow, or maybe sometime today when my hangover recedes to a dull roar.
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Date
20030622
Flash Music Video
Time
12:25
JPEG Baby is big in Japan again after a listing at this site. The song also got another airing on WZBC 90.3FM thanks to Steve. Cheers, mate.
Now, if I can manage to finagle a record deal, do you think we could run a successful campaign to have this joyful little wankfest top the charts? I’m dying to appear on Top of the Pop Shots.
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Date
20030622
Time
12:45
I went to a wedding yesterday and met a lot of very nice people. Some of them may end up here this afternoon.
Hello.
That very long story about Tony Blair starts here.
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Date
20030623
It’s War! And I’m Confused!
Time
08:26
“The museum wasn’t looted; most items where taken downstairs for storage.”
Ah, but now we find that the storerooms have been looted. The next development is sure to be a claim that the storerooms weren’t looted; concerned citizens (and some foreign journalists) merely took individual items home for safekeeping.
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Date
20030623
Riding High on Blogdex
Time
08:27
Democrats Go Off the Cliff. It’s very worrying to live in a country without a cohesive and effective opposition. If these guys don’t get their act together, 2004 will be a cakewalk for The Evil One.
Interestingly, this is also charting well today:
“The Democrats seem unable to locate an issue with which to oppose Bush, most having voted for everything he’s requested to date. May I suggest the truth? The single image Bush has promoted is flag-waving hero of the Republic. The evidence proves he is a coward.”
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Date
20030623
Time
08:28
Do you suffer from Sexsomnia?
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Date
20030623
Time
08:31
More Barbies than you can poke a non-articulated limb at. Neo-Nazi Barbie comes with the following disclaimer from the artist:
“Please note: I do not endorse nazis. Nor do I endorse Barbies.”
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Date
20030623
Time
08:33
Media blitz ensures the return of little girl’s lemonade stand. Police and city officials have caught most of the flak, but the curtain-twitching Grinch behind the complaint that forced them to act remains happily anonymous.
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Date
20030623
Time
08:37
And you think that I have too much time on my hands? Summaries of The Price Is Right will bring tears to your eyes – even if it does only cover seasons 28, 29, 30 and 31. The design, BTW, shows very clearly why JPEGs never can and never will be able to take the place of GIFs.
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Date
20030623
Time
08:40
Visitors flocking to see the (alleged) apparition of the Virgin Mary in a window of Milton Hospital have been interfering with staff and patients, so administrators have put a tarp over the window. Now, instead of a lot of curious people filling the car park, they have a lot of angry people filling the car park.
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Date
20030623
Christianity Watch
Time
08:41
How long has it been since you visited Bibleman?
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Date
20030623
Time
08:43
The Corporate Blog Is Catching On (requires registration).
Core messages to take away:
1. Personality is the key
2. Use a trusted employee
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Date
20030623
Time
08:47
A wonderful gallery of pre-prohibition products (via Ultimate Insult). I love the coca-wine that promotes itself as a cure for addication to opium or alcohol.
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Date
20030623
Welcome to the 21st Century
Time
08:53
See George Bush falling off a Segway.
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Date
20030623
Time
08:54
School bus driver asks children for directions and is taken on 20-mile detour. It took him two hours to complete a 10-minute journey.
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Date
20030623
Tim Yeo: Campaign Hijacker
Time
08:56
There’ll be some more Tim Yeo action here and at the weblog later today. Today’s gallery inclusion is a submission, and I’m just trying to clear up the matter of a credit link.
Google results should be in my tomorrow morning. Here’s hoping that Tim sees sense before then and gets in touch.
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Date
20030623
Updates
Time
12:42
If you’ve been here for a while, you probably already know that the ‘follow me’ section of the nav-bar is – primarily – a listing of sites, portals of communities that I visit every day. As my habits change, it becomes necessary to update this section of the nav-bar.
Today, changes have been made in order to trim sites that I no longer visit as much as I used to, and to include technorati and zfilter.
A new category has also been added to represent a new and growing interest in weblogs by MPs. I hope this will soon grow so out of control that it will have to be removed from the nav-bar and put on a separate page where it can enjoy more elbow-room.
Finally, a long-overdue personal, professional and political profile had been added to the site (and is linked under the ‘who he?’ section of the nav-bar).
That is all.
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Date
20030623
Mustard Man
Time
13:08
Mike ‘Nug’ Nahrgang (see ‘Mustard Man’ for details) is participating in the 2003 Canadian National Finals of the World Beer Games. There’s a bunch of folks over at Fark having fun with one of the images right now. Enjoy.
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Date
20030623
Music
Time
13:29
Anyone here from in and around Sydney? Make time to go and see Anthony Snape perform live this week. Those little hairs on the back of your neck will thank you for it. Oh, and tell him I said ‘hi.’
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Date
20030623
Time
16:42
This is a very nice piece on the recent Google (TM) hissy fit from Wordlab. The one thing Google can’t afford to do is piss people off or get heartlessly corporate – or try to reduce the way we use their brand in conversation. This is the trend that built their brand. Trying to reverse it seems somewhat backward.
A lot of ‘most popular search’ lists on other search engines are now often topped by the word (note ‘word’, not ‘brand’) ‘google.’
These days, the answer a lot of people give instead of “I don’t know!” or “Look it up!” is: “I don’t know. Have you googled it?”
I don’t want to be worried about the bloody trademark police every time I consciously or unconsciously refer new users to their service.
I’m hoping they’ll rethink this and get back to us.
If not, perhaps we can get DNA’s family to back us up on a strategic countersuit…
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Date
20030623
Time
16:55
Don’t let Bush being and arsehole blind you to the real threat of terrorism. I agree; the threat is there. Worse, the Bush administration is actually trying to use the threat to their advantage.
Incidentally, I was quite worried last month that the Big Brother house was a prime UK target (poor security, high visibility, low payload requirement, guaranteed footage, etc.) but now I’ve relaxed a bit. Nothing to do with decreased vigilance, it’s just become obvious that no-one is watching the damn thing.
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Date
20030624
Time
08:27
Heh. Did George Bush fall off his Segway deliberately to support his chums in the oil industry?
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Date
20030624
Anybody But George
Time
08:29
Wesley Clark is dragging his heels, but Howard Dean has announced his candidacy. This has a few people excited, but I still think his faux-blog is pants.
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Date
20030624
Riding High on Blogdex
Time
08:32
The American Apology Shirt allows you to travel in style, comfort and greatly increased safety, thanks to an important message printed clearly in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish, and Russian. Go and look. You’ll love it.
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Date
20030624
Look It Up
Time
08:37
George Washington made his own whiskey. He also grew his own cannabis (and made at least one diary entry about separating the male and female plants, which is what you do if you want to use it for something besides making rope). Of course, it was Thomas Jefferson who penned ‘the pursuit of happiness’ into the constitution, but he was a notorious pothead, too.
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Date
20030624
Time
08:42
That Honda ad (which I still think uses more than a little CGI trickery) won’t be screened in the U.S., as advertisers are worried that Americans won’t understand it. Perhaps they can add a little shouty person in the corner, then.
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Date
20030624
Christianity Watch
Time
08:50
Smile, children! It’s Binkles the Christian Clown, and he’s here to to present a fun and funky lesson that will help you to memorise a bible verse, a few songs and an ‘unforgettable’ bible story. Most worrying of all, the site promises that: “an invitation to recieve (sic) Jesus as personal Savior and Lord is always given at the conclusion.”
(Link via fellow agnostic Scott.)
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Date
20030624
Flash Music Video
Time
08:55
Today, JPEG Baby reaches all the way to the sunny shores of Iceland. Total page views since launch: 62,963.
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Date
20030624
Time
09:04
A Blogger’s Big-Fish Fantasy (requires registration).
Quite rightly notes that ‘linking to others gets links.’ But not always. Keep it in context, people. Have something to say.
For the record, I watch my stats a lot. I’m not so worried about traffic, more about patterns.
For instance, I know from my stats that there are at least 50 of you who deliberately tune in between 8:30am-9:30am (GMT) when I do the bulk of my blogging, presumably so you can have the pleasure of watching me correct my spoiling mistakes.
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Date
20030624
Blogs and Money
Time
09:11
Here’s a little tool that lets you preview Adsense, the new blogvertising service from Google. It seems to think that I’d do best selling blog tools. Funny, that.
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Date
20030624
Follow Up
Time
09:12
Can’t critic see camp is nude, but not lewd? So who’s doing the exploiting; the nudist camp, or Mark Foley?
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Date
20030624
Time
09:14
I scream, you scream… PossePops is the new ice confection being touted by none other than Ice T. They look like more or less like chocolate chipwiches, but each ice cream comes with a wrapper that dares you – in authentic street-speak – to say ‘no’ to drugs, wear a condom, and go to school.
“Eat + read + learn = word!” Yo!
In (arguably) related news, a novelty ‘shock’ pen sold though ice cream vans and local markets is causing chaos at the Dickey Elementary School in Ontario.
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Date
20030624
Tim Yeo: Campaign Hijacker
Time
09:28
*sigh*
The tragedy is that this could have been avoided with a simple email last week.
Now I’m after a public apology on the Conservatives website and in a major newspaper (however, if Mr Yeo wishes to bury it bit, I suppose he can always slip this into the letters section or the personal ads).
To paraphrase another of this nation’s great public servants:
“The turtle’s *not* for tipping!”
Will I get my apology?
Well, let’s see…
This morning, searching for Tim Yeo brings up all sorts of wonderful results. The Tim Yeo: Campaign Hijacker page performs best, results for this are as follows:
AOL (#4)
Google (#4)
Yahoo! (#3)
These three search engines are the source of 75% of search engine traffic.
Tom Watson’s entry on the matter snuggles in just below this. The Tim Yeo Weblog rolls in late at #9, and – for today only – FunJunkie gives the whole issue a quick nod, courtesy of a sly change to their Page Title. Go and peek.
You may very well come to the conclusion that Tim Yeo has been ‘googlebombed,’ but such a suggestion is misleading, as Google has not provided the ammunition in this case; Tim has. A better term might be ‘tossbombed,’ then.
UPDATE – The nude gallery now contains a new, submitted image. This was supposed to go live yesterday. Sorry about that.
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Date
20030624
Time
09:44
Did I blog that powergenitalia.com was a spoof? No? No matter: Snopes to the rescue.
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Date
20030624
Flash Music Video
Time
11:26
More JPEG Baby forum-love over at this thread at techimo.com. Oh, and here’s some people that didn’t like it at all. At all.
Oh well. You can’t please everybody.
UPDATE – Damn, I’ve been meaning to blog this for ages. Jim Coleman wrote in with the following:
“I just wanted to say that JPEG Baby is possibly the worst piece of music I have ever heard. Why on earth have you made this?”
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Date
20030624
Tim Yeo: Campaign Hijacker
Time
11:57
Ahahahahahaha! Justice is done. A few visitors have turned up this morning looking for Tim Yeo’s email address.
Tell you what; I’ll give him 24 hours before publishing the two core addresses he uses on the ‘campaign hijacker’ page where they’ll be much, much easier to find. It’s my duty to Google to provide what people seek, after all.
I’ll be careful to drop a spamblock in, of course. I’m not a complete bastard.
On that note, I’ve emailed Tim Yeo (again) this morning. Maybe you’d care to as well.
Use either of these:
yeot AT parliament DOT uk
timyeomp AT parliament DOT uk
Be nice.
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Date
20030624
It’s War! And Somebody’s Going To Pay!
Time
15:51
Dozens of children killed by mines and unexploded bombs every day in Iraq (contains disturbing images).
It made me want to spit bullets when Blair turned around after the million-strong march with the new-and-improved humanitarian justification. Now it could very well blow up in his face.
I wonder how many of these leftover devices the UK is responsible for?
I’m not quite sure how much good this petition will do, but if it makes you feel better you may as well sign your life away.
(Links via Joho and Earth-Info.)
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Date
20030624
Time
17:17
Hehehehe.
Tom just posted the following comment he got by email regarding the Teens page:
“just to let you kno, your teenz page is the most pathetic attempt at making politics relevant for the younger generation, I have seen in a long while…..Dont try getting down wiv the kidz, let the kidz get up to politics, its time for a real democracy…”
Of course, I can’t be too smug. I did fall for powergenitalia.com, largely because of the same assumption of ignorance.
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Date
20030625
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
08:13
I wanted to get deeper into the whole pamphleteer/blogger thing, so I asked my Dad (who’s got the learnin’) to have a think about it and maybe send me some details.
The email he sent me is quoted in full below.
Dad isn’t 100% on blogs, so the fact that he pretty much nails it in the first paragraph confirms the parallel for me.
A few points before we go to the email:
1. There were many, many pamphleteers who frittered this opportunity away promoting recipes for cheesecake (or ye olde equivalent).
2. People aren’t as desperate for information as they were then, but after decades of corporate bullshit, they do crave a human voice.
3. I’m sure many of you will get to the end and say: “Ah! So that’s where he gets it from!”
Dear Tim,
It seems that you are right in what you say about pamphleteers being the bloggers of the past. There are a number of criteria that you need to take into consideration when taking a stance and writing on it, however. Firstly, the position and standing of the writer determines the spread of his views. Next, the topic itself must be of interest to a wide audience. Thirdly, the facts presented must bear a ring of truth either spun or unspun. The next point is that the audience must be persuaded to read the material, which is probably the greatest challenge.
The original pamphleteers had a great advantage. People, common people, were thirsty for any news they could get and so anything in print was read and believed by those who held similar views. The views were quoted to support arguments and so the writers of the pamphlets gained notoriety. As time went on, reputation came ahead of content. Today, reputation comes from having access to a column in the print media. People who haven’t are up against the celebrity factor from the start and the catch-up is difficult.
Topics on which pamphlets must be written today are an anathema to most of the apathy-ridden masses. Why do they need to listen to criticism or even think about the policies/decisions of a Government they didn’t vote for when their favourite team/celebrity is undergoing sex changes/ a slump/ bad hair days or what have you. They just don’t give a s***. They have been programmed by the media not to.
If they are inclined to listen, they are so acclimatised to spin being put on the truth that they disbelieve everything they cannot see or touch. Logic is difficult for many to apply, so they don’t. You need to make your facts very simple and very demonstrable, even if they are lies. Remember that the spin-doctors went to the Goebbels School of Propaganda and learned that the more often a lie is told, the sooner it becomes truth and that the bigger the lie, the more likely it is to be believed.
Finally, when you consider that the most that most people read of the news is the headlines outside the newsagents, That may be a worthy place to begin. Make up your own headlines. ‘PRIME MINISTER CAUGHT TELLING THE TRUTH FOR FIRST TIME’ would be immediately believed by everybody, and they would all be wondering what that truth was. Some would even follow up the story.
So you can see the problem you have in front of you. Your content can be the best in the world, truthful and hard-hitting but you are 350 years too late to get it out there easily. I like it, and agree with a lot of it, but you need more readers. How you get them is your greatest challenge.
I could write more, but that is the guts of it. Probably a greater reflection of my own cynicism than a critique, but there you are.
Best wishes
Dad
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Date
20030625
Time
08:18
Staffordshire county councillor caught speeding with speed camera he donated to local police.
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Date
20030625
Anybody But George
Time
08:24
This ‘sneak preview of the president’s 2004 campaign’ is charting well on Blogdex.
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Date
20030625
Time
08:27
Roll over. Play dead. Good boy.
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Date
20030625
Follow Up
Time
08:27
Crowd gathered at Milton Hospital claim to see second apparition on chimney.
”It’s another sign . . . there is hope for us all, with all that is going on in the world,” said one.
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Date
20030625
Time
08:33
There are only a few weird and wonderful products in this modest collection, but I you just have to see the portable bedroom mirror.
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Date
20030625
Time
08:35
Dog born with no forelegs learns to walk upright. It would have been a better story had the dog been born with no hind legs.
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Date
20030625
Tim Yeo: Campaign Hijacker
Time
08:40
Searches for ‘tim yeo’ in Google now present the ‘campaign hijacker’ page at No.3 and the Tim Yeo weblog at No. 4 (with similar results appearing in AOL and Yahoo lagging behind – for the moment).
These new results and related linkage actually knock his profile at the Conservatives website pretty much out of the picture. This would have been much harder to do with a dedicated website. Especially so if there had been an audience willing to back him up in a similar way.
Hopefully a lesson learned, then.
A new image has been added to the nude gallery. It is entitled:
“The Afterglow of Power”
B3tans got a sneaky-peek at this last night. Unsurprisingly, it broke someone’s brain. Sorry about that.
Mr Yeo should take a closer look at the Tony Blair email campaign to see how long I carried on with that (plus maybe The Star Wars Photoshopping Project to see how long I carried on with that) before deluding himself into thinking that this will pass like a bad stone.
I want my apology.
Does he really want me taking him to task on every promise he makes during the next election?
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Date
20030625
Time
09:01
Beware the Paypal Scam!
It’s not the first time this has been done, but it may be the first time for you, so watch out:
Con artists have been sending fake emails purportedly from Paypal, asking members to confirm their username, password, credit card number, etc. etc. etc.
It’s a scam. Learn to spot them for your own protection.
No organisation like Paypal would email you requesting information in such a way. Would your bank call you out of the blue asking for your PIN number?
(In fact, there have been many recent scams just like this, too. The Paypal scam appears to be a mere e-copy of these.)
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Date
20030625
Tim Yeo: The Limited Offer
Time
13:15
The following is a complete and unedited copy of an email that is being sent to Tim Yeo in 5, 4, 3, 2…
Dear Mr Yeo,
Somehow I don’t think that this one small issue encapsulates everything you have done or are trying to do as an MP, but as far as 75% of web users who search for your name are concerned, it is presented as the primary issue.
In fact, it’s now presented ahead of your profile at Conservatives.com
Perhaps, then, the small threat of admitting that you actually made a mistake pales into insignificance in this case.
Let us hope so, because I’m about to show you my fluffier side and make a very kind offer. With a shelf-life of precisely 24 hours.
What I Need From You:
– Answer this email within 24 hours.
– Acknowledge that it was a bit cheeky of you to hijack an existing campaign and use it for your own ends.
– Apologise for same.
– Guarantee that you will seek no further publicity on this front and/or promise that you will acknowledge the contribution Bloggerheads has made should the issue come up again.
(optional)
– Ask a question in parliament designed to nail down an actual delivery date on a viable service for Tony Blair (the two previous questions are on record, so how carefully you need to word this question should be obvious).
Many folks that watch Bloggerheads are almost as angry about this as I am, so they’re going to want to see a result. Because of this, I will need to blog your reply in part or total (so please keep this in mind when drafting it).
However, this strictly limited offer does negate the need for you to publish your apology at Conservatives.com and via a major newspaper. Also…
What I Offer In Return:
If we can settle this promptly to the satisfaction of my readers (and myself), it makes sense to simply draw a line under it from there and call it a day. So…
– The Tim Yeo – Campaign Hijacker page will be amended to display the true nature of this issue (i.e. as a simple, and corrected, misunderstanding).
– All nude images (and references to same) will be removed from this page.
– The Tim Yeo weblog will be shut down and removed entirely.
Why This Makes Sense:
I can stop. I can release my vice-like grip. Some form of spiked hammer is not necessary. I cannot, however, guarantee the same of anybody else who comes along and considers this situation to be well out of order. This means that you not only have to worry about escalation of activity from myself, but also from other users who may wish to use you as an IT punching-bag.
The longer this issue is out there and as prominent as this, the greater that risk is. God forbid that a journalist should decide to research your name sometime in the next few days.
I urge you to get in touch today and settle this.
There are more important things in life, and I’d like to get on with them.
I am sure that you feel the same.
Regards,
Tim Ireland
https://www.bloggerheads.com/
(Please note that this email to you has been blogged in its entirety.)
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Date
20030625
Time
13:45
Young Rich will want to be quick if he’s planning on dropping by with a ‘Tim Yeo Nude’ submission. I’m hoping that the whole issue will be done with by this time tomorrow.
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Date
20030625
Time
15:12
Bloggers! Behold your prophet!
“There is one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. He that is once admitted to the right of reason is made a freeman of the whole estate. What Plato has thought, he may think; what a saint has felt, he may feel; what at any time has be-fallen any man, he can understand. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
It looks like we have a pretty strong candidate for sainthood here.
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Date
20030625
Time
15:22
Be warned that Defend Your Castle may look simple at first, but is incredibly addictive once you get past Stage 3 or 4. For full enjoyment – Read. The. Instructions! (Found via FunJunkie.)
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Date
20030625
Time
15:48
An almost-live blow-by-blow of Alastair Campbell facing the WMD inquiry. Go watch! (Link via Tom Watson.)
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Date
20030625
Welcome to Winston’s World
Time
16:16
The government’s Criminal Justice Bill plans to give police powers to take DNA samples from anybody who has been arrested. Not just those that have been charged. I’m not terribly happy about that. Just standing up for my rights on May Day could have been enough to get me arrested. Sure, the whole thing would be cleared up pretty sharpish (I would hope), but my life would still be on a database somewhere. Operated by the Chuckle Brothers, no doubt.
Are they seriously telling us that such a database would be immune to corruption or incompetence?
Just like with bloody GM food, it’s full speed ahead, and damn the consequences.
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Date
20030625
It’s War! And Somebody’s Going To Pay!
Time
17:58
When put on the spot, Alastair Campbell admitted that Californian student Ibrahim al-Marashi was indeed owed an apology. Why? Well, his work was lifted from the Internet without credit or recompense, and then misused with a highly political agenda.
Are you paying attention, Mr Yeo?
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Date
20030625
Time
23:22
Y’see, this is why I don’t read discarded copies of The Sun any more. It just aggravates me:
Such a familiar term; ‘Paras.’
Right up there with ‘Our Boys.’
Perhaps the writing/editorial team of The Sun can present us with a complete rundown of their military service record.
This simple result is by no means definitive, but it strikes a chord with me.
Also, the use of ‘rabble’ in this headline is a perfect example of The Sun’s exploitation of the illiterate and the ignorant.
I’ve actually taken a survey commissioned by The Sun.
The first question asked if I read the articles, or just read the headlines.
For many people, the simple use of the word ‘rabble’ will be the end of the matter. No matter what they read (or have read to them) after.
Were they (allegedly) Saddam loyalists and (therefore) completely evil, or were they simply a shabby crowd with ideas above their station?
If the former, we can look forward to a decent hanging at last. If the latter; how dare they attack Our Boys?
I swear; what this country needs is a broadsheet with tits in it.
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Date
20030626
Riding High on Blogdex
Time
09:37
The new Google Toolbar (beta) has a pop-up blocker and a ‘blog this’ feature.
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Date
20030626
It’s War! And Somebody’s Telling Porkies!
Time
09:39
Alastair Campbell shifts focus to BBC ‘lies.’
There was a lot of talk after his questioning about what a good performance it was. ‘Performance’ is right. As you would expect, his responses were high on spin and low on substance.
When it came down to the nitty-gritty of it, the suggestion that a back-room cabal had made plans for war without consulting the Foreign Office or MPs, he went on and on and on and on and on about what a serious allegation that was.
Yes, it’s serious, but that doesn’t make it untrue, now does it
He then ran off a list of the accused who had denied it.
That also does not make the claim untrue.
Said Mr Campbell;
“I know scepticism is fine, but are we really so cynical that we think any prime minister is going to make prior decisions to send British forces into conflict and wouldn’t rather avoid doing that.”
If we are that cynical, Mr Campbell, then we have you to thank for it.
And it still doesn’t make the claim untrue.
So there.
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Date
20030626
Time
09:42
How To Tell If Your Head’s About To Blow Up.
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Date
20030626
Time
09:43
Front yard display irks neighbours. Is it a home, or is it a business? This zoning question threatens the safety and comfort of dozens of angels, dwarfs, frogs, dogs, flamingos, rabbits, turtles, religious figures, and plastic crocodiles.
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Date
20030626
Time
09:46
The top 11 movies about animals attacking people. No.1 will surprise you not a lot.
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Date
20030626
Time
09:52
Princess Di: Mutant Superhero
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Date
20030626
Christianity Watch
Time
09:54
“Even if YOU don’t know what faith you are, Belief-O-Matic™ knows. Answer 20 questions about your concept of God, the afterlife, human nature, and more, and Belief-O-Matic™ will tell you what religion (if any) you practice…or ought to consider practicing.”
The disclaimer is even funnier. Go see – and take the test. I tried it, but for some reason my answers caused a major page error.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030626
Time
09:56
OK, that’s it for now. I want to leave room for anything that (*ahem*, nudge) may come along today.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030626
Tim Yeo: The Limited Offer
Time
11:18
About 2 hours to go. He’s cutting it fine.
I’m dead busy today, so don’t expect me to go completely 21st century on his ass from the moment the deadline passes at 1:24pm
I will, however, be taking suggestions for appropriate action at this time…
Oh, just thought I’d mention… Tim Yeo’s Conservatives.com profile has staged a bit of a comeback on ‘tim yeo’ searches, but the Tim Yeo weblog is now outperforming the Tim Yeo – Campaign Hijacker page. There have been no updates to the Tim Yeo weblog today, as I genuinely hope to be able to shut it down sometime this afternoon.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030626
Time
12:23
One hour. It don’t look good.
tic tic tic tic tic tic tic
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Date
20030626
Time
13:11
Whoa! A tidy little traffic spike over the last hour, with at least half a dozen individuals accessing the site via parliament.uk
Everyone’s watching and waiting, but I have the feeling we’re all about to be sorely disappointed…
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030626
Tim Yeo: The Limited Offer
Time
13:25
Moment of truth… downloading email…
Hey, I’ve selected for a special giveaway! I can also have a larger penis, maintain a harder, longer erection with said penis, and say goodbye to my debt problems.
I cannot, unfortunately, call it a day on the Tim Yeo issue. No reply. At all.
I’m really quite sad about that.
Even notorious spin-doctor Alastair Campbell has acknowledged that a person whose material has been lifted from the Internet and used for a political purpose deserves an apology. Why can’t Mr Yeo do the same?
OK, suggestions taken from this point on. How do we reach Tim Yeo? How do we convince him to do the gentlemanly thing? He obviously doesn’t care what the online community thinks of him, so some ‘real life’ action may be called for.
Thinking caps on. Emails to the usual address.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030626
Time
14:40
I really am quite depressed about this. As soon as I finish the work on my plate, I’m going to cruise by the B3ta board for some much-needed cheering up.
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Date
20030627
Time
08:35
Every Star Wars Kid video ever made. Interesting to see the number of people it inspired, but it was the original that warmed our hearts. You may recognise the collection of animations. I’ve emailed and asked (nicely) for a credit link.
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Date
20030627
Riding High on Blogdex
Time
08:38
Steer and queers now legal in Texas. The Supreme Court ruling is also expected to have an impact on other states with anti-sodomy laws.
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Date
20030627
Time
08:46
These extracts from a 1970’s Scientology pamphlet are doing the rounds. Do make the effort to work through the lot. You wouldn’t want to miss highlights such as the peacekeeping efforts of the Volunteer Minister. Techniques such as Contact Assist and Locational Assist follow in situations that will chill you to the bone with their stark realism. See it all. At the very least, head forward to see the Volunteer Minister meet the ‘Chief of Police’ and solve the local crime problem with a cunning plan outlined on a single sheet of A4 paper.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030627
Time
08:50
See the mug shot of the man who tried to rob a pharmacy with his finger.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030627
Time
08:53
A site dedicated to every single body part of Michael Jackson. She really, really likes his neck. You’ve probably also seen Eminem’s oh-so-clever stunt. It would be funnier if he weren’t just as disturbing as Jacko – and about 6 months too late. (Oooh, I am in a mood today…)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030627
Telemarketers
Time
08:57
Phoneonthecob.com is proving popular, in that it mixes the joy of prank phone calls with truly deserving victims. They call him, y’see. And not all of them are allowed to hang up.
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Date
20030627
Time
08:59
How can you possibly say no to caffeinated beer that glows in the dark?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030627
Anybody But George
Time
09:02
See George Bush hanging around in a classroom for five minutes after being told of WTC attack. The longer introduction (scroll down) is quite mean-spirited. I mean, maybe he just wanted to find out what made Spot run.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030627
Time
09:05
An estimated 40,000 people have journeyed to Milton Hospital to see the apparition of the Virgin Mary. One man who was interviewed said; “I don’t see anything except a dirty window.”
Burn him! Burrrrrrn him!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030627
Time
09:12
Husband in automotive tryst with mistress accidentally activates mobile phone – which places a call through to his wife. She then went on to attack him with an axe, presumably because she places her faith in more primitive (yet reliable) forms of technology.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030627
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
09:22
After years of walking past each other in the halls, Tom Watson and Richard Allan stopped to shake hands on Wednesday. Because of their interaction through weblogs. Makes me warm all over, that does.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030627
Friday Feedback
Time
09:36
Tim Yeo is obviously using the ‘la-la-la this isn’t happening’ technique to deal with this little issue. I’m not 100% sure he’s worth more Photoshop time (and I don’t want to bore you chaps), but work on the weblog will definitely continue. It can be used to do a post-mortem on every inch of newspaper coverage he gets. I’m also seriously considering digging through the Private Eye collection in the attic so we can give a home to (and present a search result for) a range of informative titbits.
Given that he wants to pretend that we don’t exist – or don’t matter – some form of ‘real life’ action may also be called for. All suggestions are appreciated. Emails to the usual address.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030627
The Political Weblog Movement
Time
11:46
Thanks go to Simon) for spotting this post on senatorial blogging. Perhaps Dennis Kucinich can be convinced to help bring blogs into the senate.gov framework.
Having them outside sets the ‘independent’ precedent that potentially robs us of real voices.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030627
Time
19:50
A long day. A busy day.
BTW, thanks for the feedback. Keep it coming.
A few folks have asked why the last few days have depressed me so.
Well, it was a pretty generous offer. A realistic offer. And Tim Yeo still couldn’t see sense. I genuinely hate it when people force me to hurt them.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030628
Time
08:51
Connex loses its franchise. Good. Thameslink and South West Trains had better watch their arse. SWT (owned by Stagecoach Holdings Plc.) is still charging extortionate fares. They hide a lot of them with laughable ‘saver’ concepts and single fares that are about 10p less than the return. All for the pleasure of riding on dirty, cramped, 40-year old ‘slam door’ stock. And the general attitude of staff just has to be experienced to be believed. I won’t be sorry to see them go.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030628
Time
16:58
Our youngest has just developed her first ‘see it and say it’ word. I heard about it this morning, but wasn’t aware of the true implications until I took her for a drive this afternoon:
Car!
Car!
Car! Car! Car!
Car!
Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car!
etc…
We survived the trip on the A-road into town, but her brain finally went into overload when we pulled into the car park.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030629
It’s War! And Somebody’s Telling Porkies!
Time
09:08
Ministers knew war papers were forged, says diplomat.
You’ll pardon me for saying so, but that’s not very diplomatic…
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030629
Time
16:02
Wow, I got much less spam this weekend than I normally do. Are all these guys at a conference or something?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date
20030630
Telemarketers
Time
08:35
I was wondering only last week why you guys didn’t have this. Now you do:
National ‘Do Not Call’ Registry goes live.
Pop your home/mobile number on the list, and you’re clear for five years.
The list still allows you to receive calls ‘from political organisations, charities, telephone surveyors or companies with which you have an existing business relationship,’ but with the exception of companies being allowed to interpret a single purchase as an existing business relationship, the rules looks pretty stringent.
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Date
20030630
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Date
20030630
Does What It Says On The Tin
Time
08:47
www.duckhuntinggirls.com
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Date
20030630
Christianity Watch
Time
08:52
The site productsforbaby.com only has one product, but it’s a cracker. The Genesis Teething Ring (made of unknown material and bearing the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus) reportedly ‘goes with two things that we are going to have more of every day, babies and Christians.’
Bless.
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Date
20030630
It’s War! And Somebody’s Going To Pay!
Time
08:57
Ten Appalling Lies We Were Told About Iraq.
They missed one. Remember when we stopped believing their WMD bullshit and it suddenly became a fight for democracy and regime change? Well, they got the regime change bit (almost) right, but:
Occupation Forces Halt Elections Throughout Iraq.
More on the latest developments and their implications from Back To Iraq: Iraq Intifada Gearing Up.
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Date
20030630
Riding High on Blogdex
Time
09:11
Everything you need to know about irony.
If you read this and are still having trouble online, then Irony Detector 1.5 might come in handy. You may not understand what it is, but dammit, you’ll know it’s there.
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Date
20030630
Time
09:31
Is Google God? (requires registration)
In a word, ‘no.’ We, as representatives of the increasingly connected global consciousness come pretty close, but we’re not God, either.
For those that need reminding, God is a large man in a white robe with a kindly face and long, flowing beard. With all lightning coming out of his fingers, like.
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Date
20030630
Tim Yeo: Campaign Hijacker
Time
10:35
From the feedback this weekend, we get (mostly) the following question, presented here in hybrid form:
Question: How do you know that he’s read your email and/or is aware of the website?
Answer: I just know, OK?
It has also been suggested that, being a Tory, Tim Yeo may actually be enjoying this public whipping and looking forward to more of the same. We shall see.
As for suggestions for development of the campaign, one piece of feedback proves particularly interesting, and suggests that simply maintaining the status quo may be enough in the short term:
From Simon of wibbler.com:
Ooooh, your efforts reach all sorts of places. The Mail on Sunday this weekend:
“Tory Grandee Tim Yeo…. is the victim of a new smear. Fake email pictures of him in various states of undress have been circulating in the commons among MPs. One features him in bed, smiling and naked, holding a magazine. Urgh!”
Now, I do try to be fair. I did warn Mr Yeo that there had been increasing views from parliament.uk, but did he listen? No.
I’ve also warned him of the possible consequences of the high search results for the Tim Yeo Weblog and the Tim Yeo: Campaign Hijacker page (which have again pushed his Conservatives.com profile out of the picture). Is he worried about that? It would appear not.
Today, the following image is presented for your amusement. It is entitled:
“The Wages Of Sin”
A larger version is presented in the growing gallery.
More on this front soon.
If I can stomach it.
UPDATE – And, just to show you that I’m not the only one who has a problem with this…
