emptyage

Ask a Librarian

There is good intel and bad intel out there. Good intel puts an end to epidemics and shows us how to find our way to Mars. Bad intel gets you things like war in Iraq, or a Zune for Christmas. Intel is everywhere. It is our most common commodity. Good intel is very valuable, bad intel is worse than value-less, it is harmful. The problem is: how do we figure out what is what?

I’ll digress for a minute and then come back to that.

I used to always tell people that they should only blog for themselves. Don’t do it for readership, don’t do it for dollars; do it because it means something to you. Do it for yourself, and the rest will follow. Lately, I haven’t been taking my own advice. I have been blogging for dollars rather than myself. This very post, in fact, is paid.

This raises questions. What are my motivations? How honest am I being? Should you believe me? Do I even believe me?

There was a time when any advertising on blogs was seen as a Very Bad Thing. And there are still bloggers who espouse that philosophy today. However, the practice has become commonplace. It is accepted. It is, even, blessed by many of the biggest names in the blogosphere. The influence-makers.

And it then becomes not so far of a leap to go from advertising to sponsored posting. In one case, you take money from advertisers who want to promote their products on your blog with copy they have written. In another, you take money from advertisers who want to promote their products on your blog with copy you have written. Same-same, but different, right? If it’s marked as a sponsored post, the reader knows it’s an ad. Just as they realize the Adsense box in your sidebar is an ad, right?

Or maybe the reader does not. Maybe the reader can’t discern between the authentic and the inauthentic. Maybe this is due to the reader not paying attention, or a post that isn’t completely clear, or perhaps even a deliberate act on behalf of the blogger.

What does that say about the wisdom of crowds? About bloggers as information providers? There is a huge fight right now, being dragged through the courts in a variety of cases, attempting to sort out whether or not bloggers deserve the same protections as journalists. Some have made the case that they do not deserve to enjoy those protections as they do not play by the same rules. I'm not so sure about that.

Mike Wallace was a pitchman for cigarettes. Advertorials appear in everything from your local 6:00 news to Time magazine. Rules? I’m just going to allude to a song about rules by the band !!! here, and let you Google it on your own.

If anything, paid posting represents yet another maturation of the blogosphere. Another sign that it is catching up with mainstream media. That it is the equal of mainstream media. Today’s blogger is not the blogger of 1999 or 2001 or even 2003. Broadband, free hosting driven by cheap storage, and remarkably easy to use software tools have come together to remove any vestige of techno-elitism that once served as a barrier between the everyperson and blogging. Motivations have changed. Your notions of purity are laughably quaint. The best we can hope for is transparency.

How do you know who to trust? How can we sort things out?

I don’t know. But I do know someone who can serve as a guide when you need help deciphering agendas. When you need to try to determine the answer to the question: is this intel I’m looking at good, or bad?

That person is your local (or net-based) librarian.

I think librarians are awesome. I like how they help you differentiate good from bad information and how they can help you make sense of a confusing world where information providers have all sorts of differing agendas based on all sorts of things. A librarian will not steer you wrong. They are the real deal.

This has been a sponsored post.

Buying in Colorado: ORLY

Sometimes I don't always feel like writing something that makes sense. I just want to write to write. To ramble on, seemingly pointlessly, for fifty words or so. Once, I lived in Colorado, but I was sad there. Perhaps if I could have afforded a house, I would have bought Colorado real estate.

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

Isn't Technorati the Bee's Knees?

Well, isn't it? Here's what I love about it. Let's say I'm interested in some topic. Whatever that might be. I can then jump on technorati, run a search and see who else might be interested in the exact same topic. That's great! That's what helps start the conversation. What really blows my mind is that on occasions, I've posted something only to find out that dozens of people are interested in the exact same topic, sometimes even using the exact same links. It happens again and again and again and again. sometimes, there are even videos.

This is like a love letter to you, dear reader. A mash note. It's not that I can't take it anymore, I mean, I can. I can! I will! You know what's coming next, right? Can't do two back to back. Here we go. Over the river and through the woods.

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

Custom Research Papers

Need More Help Cheating? Try These Fine Agents. Forget everything I said before. If you are in the market for Custom Research Papers, then look no further than the previous link. Everything else was just a canard. As I have noted, sometimes things must be left unsaid. Or, in this case, unwritten. But you can always pay someone to write it for you. To say what you cannot. (It is worth noting that sometimes you don't even have to pay them. I gave nothing away on the one before this, and yet still you read between the lines.) And this one, Masterpapers.com, is quality. The very best. Why, just look at their guarantee: "It is never a practice to neither put up on sale paid papers nor reuse any paper on site. " By jove, you can tell this is a quality operation. One that will get you an A. Also, look at they smiling face of that guy in the "Reasons" box. He's not laboring at home, working on his paper. He's out being cool, and smiling, and wearing a tie. Wow. Impressive. Have I said too much? Or not enough? That won't be a problem with these agents. Provide them a word count, and they will write for you. Exacting! Are you with me? Isn't this entertaining?

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

My blog is too meta

I just don't know who's telegraphing what to whom, anymore. Do you think that this some sort of secret message, just to me?

"Be careful when buying an essay and choosing between the alternatives – beware of too cheap sites and do not fill in someone’s pocket when buying way overpriced services – the golden equilibrium between the price and quality is what you should strive for. Remember, when it is too good to be true, it usually is."
Emphasis original

Wow. I think I should just go to bed now. Otherwise I'm going to end up one of those guys with a message about Stephen King and John Lennon painted on his truck.

This is just filler, by the way. Just some filler. Cleaning the pipes. They can't be back to back, you know. The one last night was just for five bucks and I'd like to earn a few more. But you can't do two in a row. So, I'm writing this last night. Huh? It's not live, dummy. Filler. For when I need it later. I'm looking at this as part of the job. Hence the thing about going to bed. It's nearly midnight. And I also had to update some old posts. You see, sometimes certain things must be left unsaid if I am to become monetized. Right. Just some filler. So. Get ready because here it comes.

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

If you need to cheat on a term paper, here are some agents who will gladly help

Dear Reader,

College is hard, but it shouldn't have to be. It's really just a formality these days. Nobody actually learns anything. But there it is, anyway. A barrier between you, and the job you want. Or (if you're planning on going to graduate school) the job you're hoping to avoid for a few more years.

So why not cheat. [Wink-wink, nudge-nudge]

No, seriously. Why not? No one will ever know you've cheated. They might suspect, but as long as you're careful they won't be able to prove it. Unless you admit it.

Yeah, you do some idiot thing like sneak in a calculator or turn in a plagiarized paper, then you're getting busted. But what if you just, say, hire someone to write an essay for you? An original one. A good one. One that hasn't been plagiarized, so it's not going to turn up in some machine-readable trap.

What you need to do is buy essay. Excuse me, I meant to say buy an essay. I would never simply say "buy essay." That's bad grammar. If you have a term paper due, don't stress; buy an essay, from the best. Custom-Writing.org.

And, take my word for it, these guys are good. The greatest; absolute quality. Check out what they have to say about thesis writing:

Thesis writing is complex. Thesis is acquisition and, at the same time, dissemination of new knowledge. A well-written thesis reveals knowledge of author; it also shows understanding and appreciation of the field. Thesis is a critical rather than descriptive work. Thesis writing is culminating point of years of preparation. A successfully written thesis must be original, appealing, and be an important study in terms of other researches. At Custom-Writing.org, you can be certain that your thesis meets all necessary requirements and is a quality product delivered by real professionals.

Semi colons; yo. That's deep, right? So, see, let them do all the work. Go hit some golf balls. Have a drink. Relax.

After all, it's all just a huge sham. Look at Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, those guys never went to college, did they? You get my point?

Do you? Aren't I clever?

See, I'm being up-front here. And yet I'm not. It's all very self-aware. In fact, it's post-modern. I think. I actually paid somebody to write a paper on post-modernism for me, so I'm only vaguely aware of what the term means. But you get my drift and I think you'd agree; this has been an entertaining post.

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

Don't Leave the Dog: A Cautionary Tail

Dogs: We have a special bond with them. And yet, when you go out of town, you leave them behind, with only a semi-responsible fifteen year-old neighbor to see after then while you galavant around the wilds of The Hamptons or San Francisco or Miami or Tucson. A neighbor who cares only for his life of delinquency, who shall be shoplifting beer from the local 7-11 rather than tending to your beloved animal. Worse yet, you board them, leaving them in a wire mesh ghetto to suffer the barks and yelps of a dozen other pooches, equally abandoned who cry out without language and howl into the never-dark night of a fluorescent-illuminated concrete block prison.

Does this sound like you? It does? Then you are a terrible pet owner. A horrid person, unfit to hold the looped end of a leash. I loathe you. I curse you, and your firstborn. I shall dig up your corpse upon your death and cast it, swollen and putrid, into the streets of Kuala Lumpur. You should take your dog with you. Take him with you! He does not want to be alone! He will bark and cry. He will be sad. He will not understand. He will think you have abandoned him. And since perception is reality; you have.

Allow me to digress, and make a point with a story, which might prove dear to your heart.

A friend of mine once travelled from Charleston, South Carolina, to Houston, Texas, some 1,100 miles, with only his trustworthy dog, Bailey, to keep him company. This was a long time ago, in 1994. In those days, traveling with a canine was an arduous task. Yet Steve is an extraordinary fellow. By day, he drove his decrepit 1986 Bronco II (which had 185,000 miles at the time and no air-conditioning, only windows) as fast as it would go (which is to say, not very fast at all) until, exhausted with weariness, he had to stop for the night in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

And yet upon his arrival at the hotel, there was nowhere to lay his head. For he could find no innkeeper to take both himself (and it is not because he is in any way unacceptable, Steve is both an intelligent and a charming man, cultured and clean and fine to gaze upon) and his trustworthy labrador. And so on he drove. Through Pascagoula to Gulfport, where his problem was repeated. And so on he went, past New Orleans, over the Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles, with its pistol-shaped ornaments, on through Beaumont and Baytown until at last he arrived, fatigued beyond belief, a victim of canid-discrimination, at his parents' home in Houston. His beloved Dog, Bailey, safely delivered, he passed out upon his childhood bed, and awoke days later, tears still in his eyes from the pain of species-ism.

I may have some of the details and facts of that story confused, but the essential truth of it remains. That is the way that it once was in this country.

Fortunately, today there is a better alternative, thanks to the Miracle of the Internet. All over the country, and globe, you can find Pet Friendly Hotels that will take you, and your little dog too. Many are high class establishments. In San Francisco, for example, The W, The Argonaut, and even the legendary Westin St. Francis allow pets. You shall never again have to suffer the indignity of the 17 hour road trip, nor the irresponsible neighbor who may or may not drink directly from the milk carton in your refrigerator while you are out of town, nor leave the howling sad mutt behind in a torture kennel. No! Instead simply log on to OfficialPetHotels.com and bring your dog with you.

He will thank you. Woof, woof.

This has been a sponsored post.

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

Printer Cartridges--YOU CAN'T PRINT WITHOUT THEM!

Printer cartridges: they are the razor blade refills of the computing world. You buy your printer for, like, $99, only to find that refilling it is going to set you back $120. Even worse, you get to the office supply store, only to find that you can't figure out exactly which cartridge among the thousands on display will fit your machine. But you need not pay those exorbitant prices or have the confusions. There is a better way, namely, Cartridge Finder. With more than 10,000 cartridges on offer and an easy-to-use interface, it's the bees knees. Plus, since it pulls data from PriceGrabber, you can be assured of low, low rock-bottom prices.

With the proper cartridges, you can print anything. Books. Term papers. Manifestos. Delights.

This has been a sponsored post.

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

Shop to Benefit Alzheimer's

Okay, so I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but surely you're already thinking about Christmas shopping. I know I am. And what better place to do your shopping than at a store that also does something good.

Alzheimer's disease affects about 14.4 million people worldwide, 5 million in America. Most of these are over the age of 65, but it can strike much younger people as well. As our population continues to age, it will affect more and more Americans directly. It's a terrible disease. At its onset, patients simply find themselves less energetic and it's typically undiagnosed. As it progresses, the short-term memory loss and spatial confusion are often the first noticeable symptoms. Eventually, sufferers lose all independence, needing help even with tasks such as eating, walking and going to the bathroom. It's a terrible progression that ends in death. There is no conclusive pre-mortem test for Alzheimer's.

November is Alzheimer's Awareness month, while next week, November 13, is National Memory Screening Day. Thus, it's a good time to think about Alzheimer's. While it's important to search for a cure, what's immediately vital is to ensure quality of care for those who suffer from it today. The Alzheimer's Foundation eStore raises money to support the Alzheimer's Foundation of America. If you are looking for a holiday gift that also benefit a worthy cause, it makes a good place to start. All proceeds benefit the Alzheimer's Foundation.

The Foundation is working to ensure quality care for those who suffer from this terrible affliction. (Among the items it offers on its store is a DVD provides instructions and guidance for families who must care for a family member with Alzheimer's.) Furthermore, it has a fairly low overhead, so that most of the money it raises goes to its mission--according to the 2005 annual report, only 13 percent of its total revenues supported fundraising and administrative expenses.

So, again, if you are looking for a place to do your holiday shopping that also supports a worthy cause, be sure to look into the Alzheimer's Foundation of America's eStore. Or, you can contribute directly to the Foundation to benefit Alzheimer's

This has been a sponsored post:

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

Vacation Rentals: THEY ARE WHERE YOU WILL SLEEP

There's nothing I'd rather do than travel around the world for months on end. And if you're planning an extended trip, there's not better way to stay in style than to stay in a vacation rental rather than a hotel. Vacation rentals by owner lists thousands of vacation rentals around the US, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean where you can stay, like a native.

Not only do vacation rental often give you more bang for your buck than you get with a hotel room, but they also often are located in places where there might not even be a hotel. Furthermore: fat cribs! Blenders! Daiquiris! OMG, how lovely. No matter what your travel plans enail--whether you intend to kite surf in Monterrey or wrestle brown bears in the Colorado wilderness (armed only with a smile, fistfull of berries, a coonskin cap, and a loincloth in an oily homage to the king of the wild frontier)--there is a Vacation rentals by owner out there where you can lay your head while you spend your days shopping for throwing stars in a SoHo haberdashery. Indubitably! I dig staying in them because I can't stand it when people judge me. Anyway, you should check out a Vacation rentals by owner the next time you travel. I know I will. Now bring on the bears, my edible flower.

This has been a sponsored post

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

CityPass: Start Spreading the News

Last year, we were attacked by horrifying, fleshless monsters:

Okay, so, not really. Apparently they're "dinosaurs," and we saw them--along with a lot of other great exhibits that any self-respecting science nerd would love to check out--at the New York City Museum of Natural History. That's a T-Rex pictured above (he may look terrifying but he's just a jeepster for your love). He's one of several fantastic exhibits.

I live in San Francisco, one of the great foodie cities, so I don't visit New York for the restaurants. I'm not really into Broadway, and most of the big shows that are any good eventually travel. Nightlife? Please, I'm old and without hipness. So it stands to reason that one my favorite things about visiting New York is hitting the museums.

In fact, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMa, and the American Museum of Natural History have all, on separate trips, represented my favorite thing that I've done in the City. I can think of nothing better to do when you go--and I have a vast imagination, impenetrable as the outer limit of the universe itself.

Of course, New York's expensive to visit, especially if you are planning on hitting a bunch of museums and sights. But while a dinner in Manhattan might set you back a bundle, you can still save money on the museums and sights. How? New York CityPass The pass is $65 for adults, and $49 for kids 12-17, and has tickets to many of the city's best museums that if purchased separately would set you back $130 and $89.50, respectively. Each booklet has a ticket to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the new Greek and Roman galleries, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Guggenheim Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. Plus, a trip to the top of the Empire State Building Observatory and tour of the Manhattan skyline from the water aboard a Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise, along with a map, public transportation information and insider tips on the best time to visit each attraction.

Oh, and about those pricey dinners? There's even a discount on them, and Bloomingdale's as well. It's enough to exhaust even the most indefatigable tourist in the best possible way.

Word? Word.

This has been a sponsored post

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

Housekeeping

On that Carter Letter:
Hello visitors from Waxy, Kottke, StumbleUpon, Instapundit, Lucianne, and The National Review. I closed comments in the other post due to hosers with keyboards, but to answer a couple of questions:
1. Yes, it is genuine.
2. No, it is not mine
3. Yes, I took the photo.
4. No, I do not know any more about the incident.

On PayPerPost
I've gotten some private feedback on my PayPerPost blogging, and I want to address that. While I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep it up, I am going to give it a shot for a while and see how it works out. Yes, they are sponsored posts, which means that they are written for a fee. However, I'm trying to only write about topics that I find interesting, and at the very least I hope to make them just as entertaining and/or informative as anything else you might read here.

On Why My Nike Plus Isn't Updating
No, I have not quit running. I logged five miles this morning, in fact. But I haven't been running with my Nike Plus sports kit lately because, well, I just haven't felt like it. In September, I was testing several HRMs that tracked speed and distance, and filling out spreadsheets and logbooks every day. Prior to that, it was my triathlon season, and I spent seven months training and tracking my progress. It's been nice to just go out and run, for a change, purely for the enjoyment of it. I'll likely start updating again this month. Next year, I plan on doing Wildflower Olympic distance, Alcatraz, Vineman 70.3, and Sandman, plus maybe another sprint or two. There will be plenty more to come.

Re: Mixed - Me and Hamilton Beach®

As you know, or perhaps do not, I am one of the greatest cooks in the Great State of San Francisco. For Sure. No Question. And yet, I suffer an inferior mixer. That is the tragedy.

Hence my enthusiasm for the Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer.

I wrote a song about the Hamilton Beach® Eclectrics® Stand Mixer. I call it "The Hamilton Beach® Eclectrics® Mixer Song".

(Here's the link to the video)

Oh? You'd like the lyrics? Word.

Oh my mixer sure is a pain to use
When I fire it up, it just gives me the blues
What I wouldn't give, to have something new
From Hamilton Beach®

40 watts to make four 1-pound loaves of bread
Hands-free mixing with a two way rotating head
Stainless steel means you never make a mess
Oh, Hamilton Beach®.

Eclectrics® All-Metal Stand Mixer (repeat ad infinitum)

40 watts to make four 1-pound loaves of bread
Hands-free mixing with a two way rotating head
Stainless steel means you never make a mess
Oh, Hamilton Beach®.

If you enjoyed my song, and I'm quite sure you did, gravycakes, be sure to check out the Hamilton Beach® Mixer online.

This has been a sponsored post.

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

Lipo: Let's Hear What You think

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to turn myself into a leaner human being. And I have. I dropped 40 pounds in 2007. That’s substantial, and it took an incredible amount of effort, both in terms of exercise and dieting. I’m hovering at 145 pounds and 14 percent body fat these days, and I’m just about as skinny as I could be. But I still have love handles. And it’s frustrating.

I think that in all likelihood there’s nothing I can do about them. They’re genetic, to a large extent, and that’s just my lot in life. And so when I read an article the other day in Men’s Health suggesting liposuction, it quite frankly appealed to me. Not that I’ll ever do it, but I understand the inclination. I mean, if I have love handles now, there’s no getting rid of them without a doc. Or at least, that's what I think. It certainly seems that way.

Which is why I’m posting about this UK Liposuction clinic (which was also mentioned in The Times and appears to be quite legit, not just some fly-by-night body shop). I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not, but quite frankly, I’m not so sure anymore that it’s all that different than any other form of body modification.

What do you think?

This has been a sponsored Pay Per Post entry.

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

The Mist

I’m a long-time Stephen King fan. I grew up with him. The Shining was one of the first scary movies I ever saw, and it absolutely destroyed me. (All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and Mat a very, very scared one.) Cujo was one of the first adult-oriented novels I read, way back in the 5th grade. While in retrospect it wasn’t as frightening as some of his other books that I would later encounter, it left an impact, and I was hooked.

By the time I hit high school, I went on a tear, reading all of his published novels, both as King and under his Richard Bachman pen name. In college I read The Green Mile series one at a time, anxiously waiting each month for the next to arrive. Meanwhile, The Dark Tower series mesmerized me.

But there was nothing like The Stand, a book that I’m convinced will eventually join the ranks of great American novels. Thought-provoking, fluid, and as intricately-plotted as a Steinbeck novel. The writing popped and crackled, and after I read it, the first thing I did was to seek out the expanded edition, which I immediately devoured as well. But most of all, The Stand was terrifying, a horrific look at a post-apocalyptic world. Even the cover art was frightening. And although I don’t read too many King books now—maybe one every other year—I’ll always be a fan based on The Stand alone. Although I read it more than fifteen years ago now, it still haunts my dreams on occasions. Captain Trips, you freaked me out.

All of which is to say, you should check out his new film. The Mist by Stephen King which opens on November 21. There are two trailers online, noth of which are worth watching – be sure to note the timer bar across the bottom (it’s made from mist!). For San Francisco peeps, certainly, you may never feel the same way about the fog again.

This has been a sponsored post:

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.

I Signed Up with PayPerPost

So I've been doing the blogging thing for nine years now (almost exactly, in fact). I was a pro-blogger for Mother Jones' Must-Reads long before most people had even heard of blogs. I've pro-blogged for Wired.com recently, and I've had offers to pro-blog a couple of other places as well.

But when I've tried to make some money blogging on my own, via Google AdSense, I think I earned something like a nickel. Maybe it was a quarter. Or even a dollar. I forget. Less than a fortune. Certainly not enough to cover the costs of blogging--hosting, paying TypePad or Blogger (yes, I had a paid Blogger account) or whatever my blogging app du jour might be.

And so here I am with PayPerPost. And you know what? I just made $20 by posting this entry. Bang. Just like that. Right out of the gate. I didn't even have to arm-wrestle a cockapoo or anything. And it's not going to be a one time deal, either. Every time I write a sponsored post (easily identifiable as they're all going to be most will be marked as such; see below) I get paid. I can take opportunities from PayPerPost's marketplace, or I can accept opportunities directly from advertisers or sponsors who click on the button you see in my sidebar over there to the right and down some --------------------->

As RUN DMC once said, "it's like that."

Concerns? Questions? Comments? I'm all ears.

And dollar bills.

update: no, I'm not going to do anything gross. we'll see how it goes.

NOTE: This post was composed for research purposes for an article for Wired magazine.