Miguel was on the phone, that’s my scooter mechanic, as opposed to the batbike mechanic. The batbike is as heavy and complicated as a small car and requires pneumatic tools. He has located a [new headlight lamp] socket that fits the scooter cone and is compatible with quartz halogen. That box of eight tungsten headlights I bought last spring is down to the last unit. Chinese scooters have bad electronics and even by that admission mine was a lemon, the lemonade being I can fix it myself.Trivia. How do they bend PVC pipe? Everyone knows a heat gun will let you make an elbow. But now explain how I saw one tied in a knot. Turns out they heat up sand in and pour it down the pipe. Then work fast when the material softens. The nerd-factor is present as none of the seven on-line instructions tell you what temperature to heat the sand. It’s 450 F degrees. Now I know.
Next, a 3D printer under $500 has hit the market. The Solidoodle 2 is $499 (but has a reputation for being cantankerous). The fact remains a major price barrier has been broken, a prerequisite I require before investing in untried technology. Low price usually wins over quality and becomes the standard, ask Google and Amazon. The prudent have already spotted that in no way did I state my budget was under $500. Didn’t say that at all.
The Kiss bakery reports an increased number of customers saying their ads are "everywhere". Here is a link to that everywhere, first published on Craigslist, on last December 15th. Pardon if this eventually drops off. You know Craigslist, first in line, think they are smart instead of lucky, a bunch of grubbers otherwise.
Our favorite felon, Jason Derek Brown, is still stumping the flatfoots. Run, Jason, run! Why? Because he isn’t a felon since he’s only wanted for questioning and the FBI have gone ballistic to make him sound like a really bad guy. He allegedly, possibly, did something in the past and might maybe do something in the future, they say. Not anywhere near good enough for me. Of course, I’m the guy that thinks people have a right to NOT have their identities published until after they are convicted of something. The presumption of innocence makes anything else defamatory. It’s bad enough that if one is acquitted, the records and evidence are kept on file for later.
Mind you, the Feds have finally stepped up the deportation of criminals. But as usual, they bugger that up, too. For example, the new guidelines state they must wait until the immigrant has committed three offenses before being deemed a criminal. That is BS, the national feeling is immigrants should be on automatic ten years probation or until they learn English, whichever is longer.
Deportees should be required to take their families with them rather than leaving them on welfare. Sorry, the mercy is all used up, mi banditos. Some say the family should not suffer for they've done anything wrong. Nonsense, that's like claiming Capone's wife thought he ran a used furniture store. Harboring a criminal is against the law. Living off the proceeds of a crime is, too. If Washington was forced to obey the wishes of the electorate, these aliens would be rounded up by the busload. Americans like to waste their votes rather than dare tell their children the truth why everybody pro-immigration has a funny last name.
Setting the record straight. When I was twelve, I used to stargaze with my binoculars. One winter, I saw the moons of Jupiter. But nobody would believe me. These days, amateur pix of several of that planet’s moon are all over the place. I was told I was making it up because the moons were so far away nobody could possibly see them. It would seem not one person in the thousands that I grew around had ever heard of Galileo. Nary a one.
From our dull pain department, did you hear the Vatican no longer accepts credit cards? (Can you think of any other Italian organizations on a cash-only basis?) The Pope disconnected the ATMs when the local government complained of money laundering. Go-on! Who’s ever going to believe the Church would have anything to do with tax evasion. What? Really? Well, gee, you know, then, in that case, I’d guess I had best just better not say anything, had I, now?
This link I lifted from jimmyr, but it makes the grade. I’m trying to figure out to which foreign governments this would prove an invaluable service. But I’m not allowed to review the passenger list out of Ft. Lauderdale before I board the plane. As a taxpayer, I lack the right to refuse to get on a plane with Abdul. His very name alone makes me "prejudiced".
ADDENDUM
This blog contains enough information to attract a larger audience. It is different enough to hold a meaningful segment of them as regulars. It is not like any other blog and that is important. It deals with the everyday and the novel easily as penetratingly as the polished and shiny words from uptown. Think along the lines what Ann Coulter says about liberals, I say about guitar players. She gets paid, I don’t.
But I, too, would rather be palming the fifties. And I’ll match the IQ of my regular readership to anything, repeat anything, out there. Since I can read their editorial page, that’s a safe bet. This blog was never commercial but my market share is almost large enough to attract the right kind of sponsors. For the right price, I’ll mention any name here at the end of the day.
I’ve contacted “Nationwide”, the outfit that collects and distributes discount want ads. In a reversal of convention, instead of on-line ads for subscriptions, I’m going to advertise my blog in the dailies. As far as I know, a minor qualification, I have never seen another blog advertised in this manner. Nationwide controls the papers, the timing, and the category, but a million ads is one shipload more than I can reach from here.
While such [blog advertising] may happen at some other level, I don’t read many out-of-state columns—I’m saying I came up with this idea on my own. Any search for information gets a backflush of on-line promoters (Squiddoo) and unrealistic claims of how to get it free, but this merely tips us off that the masses lack the lousy $180. I’m not into marketing, but I’ll describe my reasoning. First and by far foremost, I think my advertising spear-heads a new dimension. I must make the decision with insufficient data, but I am singularly satisfied with the advantages of being first.
Next, I equate the want ad to direct mail, and equate on-line promotion to e-mail offers. The results seem to say direct mail returns 4.4% responses to e-mail’s anemic 0.11%. What’s more, getting a price out of advertisers can be hand-to-hand combat. I’m okay with Nationwide because I did my comparison shopping long ago and don’t think much has changed (because the same companies are still in business).
The number of blogs in existence looks like anybody’s guess, so I’ll amalgamate from sites I’ve heard of and say 155 million. That makes an assumption that blog totals have leveled off in America and further growth will come from “emerging nations”. Going by the taxonomics of Technorati, less than 4 million of said blogs contain any useful information or impart knowledge. All the remainders are talk. Politics, family, gossip, sports.
Thus, I’m expecting that one-time ad will generate 44,000 hits, meaning a unit cost of less than half a cent. The game plan is to boost ratings, to get out of the bush league. Naturally I conjecture the novelty of the ad will grab media attention and garner that all-important publicity. For that matter, I’ve seen shameless self-promotion work so well I might wish I had more to be ashamed of.
