Star-Wars hilarity: Darth Vader calls the Emperor with news that the Death Star has just been blown up.

Oh oh oh, I’m sorry.
I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith can protect a small thermal exhaust point that’s only 2m wide!
The thing’s not even fully paid off yet!!!

Hilarious™.

Quick-Time video. (via MetaFilter)

Photo: Reuters

1300 Australian soldiers will be sent to East Timor to quell the unrest and violence there. The troubles began when nearly 600 soldiers who went on strike protesting ethnic discrimination, were fired en masse. The first 130 soldiers have arrived at Dili airport today to secure it for further troop transports.

Unlike Iraq, East Timor is of vital strategic importance to Australia. There’s the resource-sharing of the oil and gas fields in the Timor Gap, and not to mention that any kind of failed states in such close proximity would not be good for Australia. The obvious results of such a situation would be crime and money laundering, refugees and humanitarian concerns, and easy hideouts for terrorists.

Photo: AP

So bravo to the Australian government and the Army for sending the soldiers in. The Army certainly needs the good publicity after the Kovco fiasco. And if the government can fix East Timor (again), then they should really be concentrating on the Solomons Islands next. But one basketcase at a time.

More at the Sydney Morning Herald, including Dominic Knight’s post.

This mucking around with Google AdSense and now Text-Link-Ads is addictive to the point where it is very easy to lose focus on what this blog is about - MY WRITING! I just had to get that out of my system to remind myself that.

I spent last night reading about ads optimisation, how much big time bloggers make from them and, the ethics and the technology behind it all. It was damn interesting. Well to anyone who is interested in putting ads on their blog anyway. Stuff about eye patterns, reader attention spans, and placement tips.

These sites may be of interest to you if you are so inclined:
ProBlogger.net
Performancing.com

One of the things that jar me most was the “blend in” technique whereby you make the ads look like links in your real content, or wrapping the content around the ad without a border. I don’t like these two methods because as a reader I really hate them. The first method tricks the reader and once you’ve tricked me I ain’t gonna come back. The wrapping method on the other hand is just plain distracting and makes reading that much more difficult.

Looking at newspapers and magazines, you can clearly see where the content ends, and the ads begin. You shouldn’t trick the readers.

Now back to regular programming ….

Technorati Tags: Google AdSense, Text-Link-Ads, ads optimisation

Yes, I’ve gone over to the ad side - I’ve gone and placed Google Ads on these pages. I’ve tried to make it as unobtrusive and as eye-pleasing as possible (noticed the matching colours?). The content shall always remain the same. Good or bad, it’d still be recognisable as my writing.

I wouldn’t write keyword-laden posts just to get an ad to show up. Nor would I plaster the whole place in ads till you close your browser window in disgust. Being an avid blog reader, I know what pisses me off about a blog. So, everything would be done with the blog reader in mind, especially the aesthetics.

The aim of this exercise is to see if it makes enough pocket money to cover the hosting which arguably isn’t alot: USD $75 p/a. But hey, money saved is money earned.

Technorati Tags: Google AdSense, AdSense

True stories these …

• Whilst making out with a girlfriend, I reached for my glasses. She asked me why. I said, “I can’t see you naked without them.” She didn’t let me and I was forced to use my imagination.
• I once had two girls stayed over in my room once. They slept on my bed and I slept on the floor. Housemates gave me dirty looks after I told them nothing happened. Story of my life.
• Still about the same two girls … one was drunkenly mad at me and got into a taxi with a stranger. I chased after her in my car while the other girl puked in the backseat. I caught up with the taxi and I got them both home safely. No, I didn’t get “rewarded”. Chivalry is overrated.
• A girl I secretly had a crush on described to me in vivid detail and super technicolor her “first time” which she had just had with another guy. I understood what crimson tide really meant that day. I also wanted to hurt that guy badly but I ended up getting drunk by the river instead.
• I once declared that I wanted to go out with a girl by yelling at her.
• Before I knew how to take a hint, I couldn’t take a hint. It took me a year to realise that maybe the girl that I had been asking out, really *really* did not want to go out with me. I actually had to say, “You don’t want to go out with me, do you?” *ouch*
• I so identified with Duckie in Pretty in Pink. I thought Molly Ringwald’s character was a stupid bitch.
• You know how ppl have make-up sex? I once refused “break-up sex”. What an idiot. Do you see a pattern here???
• I’ve broken up with girls using the lines “it’s not you, it’s me” and “I like you too much”. Maybe I do deserve my dry patch now. Karma is a biatch.

Do you have any to share?

Technorati Tags: dating, courtship

I didn’t articulate my thoughts in my previous post, “Maybe I am fussy” very well at all. I think I gave the impression that I’m harbouring a secret crush for Wendy when I don’t.

The gist of that post was:

• How come I don’t feel anything for her when she seems to fit almost all of my arbitrary criterion? Discuss. (20 marks)

That’s it really. I probably confuse you all by adding that I wouldn’t mind some physical action if my brain didn’t get in the way so often. That is true but it has nothing to do with Wendy. So I apologise for the confusion.

Only girlstar7 got what I was trying to get at:

although many people have a list of ‘criteria’ in their head you may meet someone that fills all those criteria, but you just don’t feel that spark. you can choose someone due to logical things such as decent job, likes dogs etc. but in the end love/lust is not logical.

These facts remain:

• I’m happily single although I wouldn’t mind companionship.
• I still don’t know what I really want. Even when I do, I change my mind often.
• I haven’t met anyone in recent years who made my heart beat faster, except for that blonde nurse whom I promptly lost interest in.
• My mind may not know what it wants and has a propensity to over-analyse but my body doesn’t. It knows what it wants. Hence my frustrations.
• And I do get frustrated. The only good thing is that it gives me ample material to blog about.

Concerned friends and family wonder why I’m “fussy” but the truth is that I haven’t felt a spark for anyone in ages. And I can see why ppl chastise me for “having high standards” when they see a perfectly nice girl like Wendy who fits *my* criterion for now and yet I feel nothing. Nada. You don’t think I wonder why that is so? Believe me, I argue with myself about that a lot.

I know everyone means well but in the end it’s just something that I have to overcome alone. Everyone is different and to those who have found your other half, I’m happy for you but your advice is probably only applicable to yourselves.

I’m a special kind of nutcase who requires a different approach. Woohoo!

p.s. Wendy already knows about all that I have written here, which is why I never hesitated in writing about it. I’m not some emotionally stunted person who can only show his true feelings on a blog ok!

Technorati Tags: single life

Via Overheard in the Office:

Executive #1: We will never promote her. She is fucked up. Did you see her at the company picnic with her son?
Executive #2: No. What happened?
Executive #1: She was breastfeeding him!
Executive #2: So what?
Executive #1: He’s like 5 years old!
Pause
Executive #2: When is the next picnic?

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