One year ago today: March 29, 2013
Five years ago today: March 29, 2009
"Caribecana". That’s the name of Prof. Oz’s newest book. I haven’t read the book since I don’t have a free copy, but I did read the press releases and some of those phony book reports written by plug agencies. The protagonist, Dave, well, how about I tell you a few things about him and you can connect the dots. Then see if you can get the ditto marks right around that link "Caribecana".
I may read the book just to find out if Dave also sings Karaoke. Anyway, the prof and I met up at the bakery. Accidentally a fancy coffee cup got knocked off our table. We will long be remembered. It was one of a fancy set of Hungarian cups that were a special wedding present to the lady owner. Irreplaceable.
Otherwise, the day dragged along, a sign that I’m not having as much fun as I should. I can avoid boredom but that’s hardly enough for me. Last night’s take was a near record, and one of the bills was a “Where’s George”. I listed it and took note of how that site is doing. It is tracking around 240 million bills, so I am a small player. The majority of the bills on my account were tips. That says the places I normally go are not, by and large, occupied by an Internet type of person.
There is a comment space on “Where’s George” where I mention this blog. But it is not good advertising since I’ve only had five hits on my bills since 2007. One bill made it to Panama, the only other bill that went further than Michigan is a single that arrived in Seattle. It was described as tattered and torn. That’s the excitement for today, I’m afraid.
The days are too short again. A sure sign I’m doing too much for what I’m getting in return. What can I drop, besides my IQ mating club membership? That club is history. I’d rather put the money into another foot pedal or a new set of bass strings. I got to thinking if I’d showed up at a soiree or toga party with most of the women on that site, what would be my impression? For fun, let’s make this a multiple choice.
A) Home free!
B) Pardon me lady, are you sure this is a party?
C) Dweeb alert! Get me outta here.
D) None, some, or all of the above.
I chose another old tune to give “the treatment”. That’s where I re-write the bass line to make it sound more like the original. This accomplished two items. It took all afternoon and took my mind off everybody messing up and calling me for help. Oh, and what did I tell you about the Canadian dollar? It is down to 90 cents from a peak of $1.05 on July 11, 2011. The Canadian loonie is one of the most manipulated currencies on the planet. Be very cautious about investing in it. It has been as low as 61 cents living memory.
Next I spent an hour with graphics programming, in particular, the modules that make up most video games. Terrible. As long as droves of retards keep spending money on the third-rate rubbish that keeps them occupied, why release any of the good stuff for the past fifteen years? If you’ve ever met a “gamer”, you know the level of retardation I’m talking about. Computer innovation ceased the day someone realized they could sell computers to that crowd.
I’d say this morning’s meeting was a dud. But it emphasizes that some people have a totally misplaced trust in the computer and the Internet. No, it is not “all on the Internet” and no I don’t “have to read it”. Even if I was impressed, I know it doesn’t work or you would not be asking me how to do it. And I’m not pleased with people who have 700 unread emails in their in basket trying to find a particular item while I’m waiting. That’s essentially how the meeting went. Sorry, I have experience. If you want to get work done, you don’t show up to a meeting with a computer.
The issue was promotion of product. Too many people are convinced—and I mean really obsessed—with the crazy idea that you can have such a fantastic web site that it will trounce all the competition. Such as site does not exist and if it did, it would be instantly copied and lose its advantage. If you don’t know my history on this, I’ll go over it quickly here. Advertising the same way as everybody else is so ridiculous we won’t discuss it. The very purpose of advertising is to stand out, while still obeying the rules.
I notice very few web pages advertise on the television (directly) or in the newspapers. Your product requires an easy way to purchase it, although I’ve noticed people will persist with an on-line order form where they’d long since give up if it was on paper. My plan is to combine these in the cheapest possible fashion and see if it works. Take out a blanket (one million ads) classified and direct them to a blog that links to where they can order. The ad is cheap, the blog is free, and it has a built-in counter so you can see the number and source of the responses.
Unless you want to try this, then stick with all the money wasted on these “book promotion” sites. We don’t want to hear about it. We don’t want to read their e-mails. They are not computer or Internet geniuses. They are small fry after your dollar for doing as little as they possibly can. And their sales pitch comes across like the idiot’s short-cut to legalized scamming. It smacks of Los Angeles acting schools, where you always need to spend just a little more on your portfolio and they are right there to help you spend it. I know a BS business model when I see it.
And that is all that happened today. In the whole world.
