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Month: June 2006

TTLB Graphs, Technorati Issues

TTLB Graphs, Technorati Issues

Today I’m a Slithering Reptile in the TTLB Ecosystem. The descriptions are cute, and very humbling! I was an “insignificant microbe” for a while when I first had the blog. I was a “Flappy Bird” for less than a day once – I think that’s the highest up I’ve gotten.

In addition to the regular blog stats, The Truth Laid Bare now has graphs of incoming links and outgoing links (by frequency). Here’s my most frequent incoming links graph:

Who Links to VirusHead

(larger, interactive version)

These things are great, but I’ve been having some technical difficulties with both TTLB and Technorati.

The main problem is that both TTLB and Technorati seem to slow down the loading time of my blog, freezing it for a wee bit while the scripts do whatever they do. I’m not really sure how it works.

It would be great if faster-loading solutions were implemented. I’m not sure what I can do on this end. I did try a WordPress plugin to speed up the loading time of TTLB with some kind of cache, but it doesn’t really do anything that I can tell.

Also, I can’t view the Technorati site with Firefox. It doesn’t appear to process the style sheet at all. When I go to the site, I have to open IE. Even then, the site loads very slowly. I can’t tell whether it is more to do with my own settings, or with their site.

The last problem is about my own settings, I’m sure. On every computer but my own, I can see the Technorati image and links on my sidebar. Here I don’t see it, either in Firefox or IE. I’ve played with settings for my firewall, antivirus, spyblaster, and everything else I can think of, but it just doesn’t show. Is it considered a malicious javascript?

Suggestions welcome.

Using a New WordPress Theme

Using a New WordPress Theme

Again, I’ve grown bored with my WordPress theme. Until such time as I have the time and energy to design my own, I’m just using a modified version of the Remember theme by Becca Wei. I’m still customizing it for my content, so check back in a day or so. You might have to refresh the page if you’ve visited recently.

I’ve got the image I want now for the header, but there are some buggy bits of the footer and sidebar, and I’ve lost the tag display on each post, as well as my guidelines for comments. Please play nice while I get all that fixed.

National Endowment for … Democracy?

National Endowment for … Democracy?

Have you heard about the NED?

The misnamed National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is nothing more than a costly program that takes US taxpayer funds to promote favored politicians and political parties abroad. What the NED does in foreign countries, through its recipient organizations the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), would be rightly illegal in the United States. The NED injects “soft money” into the domestic elections of foreign countries in favor of one party or the other. Imagine what a couple of hundred thousand dollars will do to assist a politician or political party in a relatively poor country abroad. It is particularly Orwellian to call US manipulation of foreign elections “promoting democracy.” How would Americans feel if the Chinese arrived with millions of dollars to support certain candidates deemed friendly to China? Would this be viewed as a democratic development?…

The National Endowment for Democracy is dependent on the US taxpayer for funding, but because NED is not a government agency, it is not subject to Congressional oversight. It is indeed a heavily subsidized foreign policy loose cannon.

Sign an Open letter to the AFL-CIO
The Worker to Worker Solidarity Committee is a coalition of union members and solidarity and peoples’ democracy activists. The open letter calls on the AFL-CIO to end its relationship with the mis-named National Endowment for Democracy and other organs of the State Department, and to open its books and come clear about its foreign relations. Special mention is made about AFL-CIO activities in Venezuela, Haiti, Chile and Iraq.

(Thanks Elainna!)

Unconscious Mutterings 177

Unconscious Mutterings 177

Unconscious Mutterings

Weekly Unconscious Mutterings Meme – Week 177

I say … and you think … ?

  1. Newspaper :: Print
  2. Crucify :: “every rainy day”… or… “shiseido red” (see below)
  3. Sausage :: Ummm, Ummmm, let’s see… right… uh… Picasso?
  4. Handy :: Practical
  5. Cloak :: Dagger
  6. Drunk :: Sober
  7. Fuel :: Diatribe
  8. Caress :: Nibble
  9. Itch :: Scratch
  10. Vehicle :: Vector

“A high-brow is someone who looks at a sausage and thinks of Picasso.”
– A. P. Herbert

Muhammed My Friend

muhammad my friend
it’s time to tell the world
we both know it was a girl
back in bethlehem
and on that fateful day
when she was crucified
she wore shiseido red and we drank tea
by her side

sweet sweet
used to be so sweet to me

muhammad my friend
i’m getting very scared
teach me how to love my brothers
who don’t know the law
and what about the deal on that flying
trapeze got a peanut butter hand
but honey do drop in at the
dew drop inn

sweet sweet
between the boys and the bees

and moses i know
i know you’ve seen fire
but you’ve never seen fire
until you’ve seen pele blow
and i’ve never seen light
but i sure have seen gold
and gladys save a place for me
on your grapevine
till i get my own tv show

ashre ashre ashre ashre
and if i lose my cracker jacks at the
tidal wave i got a place
in the pope’s rubber robe

muhammed my friend
it’s time to tell the world
we both know it was a girl
back in bethlehem

Crucify

every finger in the room
is pointing at me
i wanna spit in their faces
then i get afraid what that could bring
i got a bowling ball in my stomach
i got a desert in my mouth
figures that my COURAGE
would choose to sell out now

i’ve been looking for a savior
in these dirty streets
looking for a savior
beneath these dirty sheets
i’ve been raising up my hands
drive another nail in
just what GOD needs
one more victim

why do we crucify ourselves
every day i crucify myself
nothing i do is good enough for you
crucify myself
every day
i crucify myself
and my HEART is sick of being
in chains

got a kick for a dog
beggin’ for LOVE
i gotta have my suffering
so that i can have my cross
i know a cat named easter
he says will you ever learn
you’re just an empty cage girl
if you kill the bird

i’ve been looking for a savior
in these dirty streets
looking for a savior
beneath these dirty sheets
i’ve been raising up my hands
drive another nail in
got enough GUILT to start
my own religion

why do we crucify ourselves
every day i crucify myself
nothing i do is good enough for you
crucify myself
every day i crucify myself
and my HEART is sick of being
in chains

please be
save me
i CRY

looking for a savior
in these dirty streets
looking for a savior
beneath these dirty sheets
i’ve been raising up my hands
drive another nail in
where are those angels
when you need them

why do we crucify ourselves
every day i crucify myself
nothing i do is good enough for you
crucify myself
every day i crucify myself
and my HEART is sick of being
in chains

why do we
crucify ourselves
everyday

never going back again
crucify myself
again you know
never going back again to
crucify myself
everyday

Sex in the City Quiz

Sex in the City Quiz

This is for Tina, who has no idea how our four friends would line up with “Sex in the City” characters. I still haven’t seen the show (have pity, I’m still on network television). So I took some quizzes. I’m not sure this resolves the question.

Sex


Which Sex In The City girl are you?

Samantha Jones
Scintillating Samantha is a successful PR exec who knows what she wants – and much of the time she gets it. She radiates confidence in everything she does – whether it’s landing a star client, getting a table at the trendiest restaurant or bedding the hottest guy in a room.


Take this quiz!

Which sex in the city character are you?

Charlotte

Personality Test Results

Sex and the City: The Four Women, the Four Elements

You scored 60% Carrie Your answers peg you as a Carrie-type, much influenced by the Air Sign qualities associated with Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Like confident Carrie, you’re curious and perceptive, always seeking answers and never satisfied with the superficial. An Air Sign influence can lead to indecision and an avoidance of tough issues, like with Carrie and her on-again, off-again attachment to Mr Big. Forward thinking, incredibly intelligent and witty, you exude quirky charm. You’d be utterly bored by someone who’s just a pretty face or a hot body – though you don’t mind looking and flirting. You’re more turned on by an equally smart and funny mate, someone who challenges your mind and makes you laugh. You love to talk, so you need a good listener who’s open to playful and eccentric ideas about love and lovemaking.

You scored 20% Charlotte You’re a romantic at heart, strongly influenced by the intuitive, profound and sometimes naive Water Signs – Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. You’re like a mother, a mystery and a poet all in one. Though on the surface you may seem innocent and all about seeking the good in people, beneath the surface, you hide secret yearnings for intimacy, for attachment and ideal love. You’re looking for a knight in shining armour, a soul mate, someone who will complete you and tether you to the earth when you get carried away with your fantasies. You’re super-sensitive, soaking up the moods of others; you’re free with your emotions, crying at commercials and sad movies. You also provide a shoulder to cry on and open arms for hugs. Be careful that you’re not so wide-eyed and trusting that you get taken in by some cunning wolf in sheep’s clothing.

You scored 10% Samantha You identify with Samantha’s bold and liberated Fire Sign qualities, characteristics associated with the Signs of Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. You’re strong, audacious and larger than life – and you take what you want! Sometimes you can even be thoughtless and selfish, as you get so caught up in craving immediate gratification and excitement that you overlook someone else’s feelings. Your personal style probably reflects your desires: sleek, low-cut, revealing just a bit more than might be considered acceptable. Watch out that you don’t come on too strong, though. You could scare potential suitors off with all your drama. If you seek so much attention, the more basic qualities of the Fire Signs could be burned right out of the picture. Show less skin or cleavage and more of your creativity, your vibrant leadership skills and courageous generosity.

You scored 10% Miranda You chose many of the same answers that Earth Sign, like Miranda, the cynical but pragmatic lawyer, might have chosen. Like her, you don’t give your heart up to just anyone. She shies away from a relationship with Steve because he’s ‘just’ a bartender, not something more conventionally ambitious or stable. Those with powerful Earth Sign qualities – characteristics associated with Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn – are cautious in love and seek stability and status over nearly anything else. Earth Signs provide a steady, realistic attitude and they can bring order out of chaos. You’re incredibly sensual, and beneath that smart, expensive business suit of yours, you yearn for intimacy. But you are hesitant to give up your material needs, your career ambitions or your responsibilities for a passionate moment that might not turn out the way you’d hope.

Coupland’s Life After God (up to God?)

Coupland’s Life After God (up to God?)

I’m out of books to read. I’ve read everything I have, some things two or three times. Today I reread Douglas Coupland’s Life After God. These are the two passages that struck me, compellingly, again.

Our conversations are never easy, but as I — we — get older, we are all finding that our conversations must be spoken. A need burns inside us to share with others what we are feeling. Beyond a certain age, sincerity ceases to feel pornographic. It is as though the coolness that marked our youth is itself a type of retrovirus that can only leave you feeling empty. Full of holes.

–Douglas Coupland, Life After God (1994), p. 280

You know what people will probably think of when they think of these days a thousand years from now? They’ll look back upon them with awe and wonder. They’ll think of Stacey — or someone like Stacey — driving her convertible down the freeway, her hair flowing back in the wind. She’ll be wearing a bikini and she’ll be eating a birth control pill — and she’ll be on her way to buy real estate. That’s what I think people will remember about these times. The freedom. That there was a beautiful dream of freedom that propelled the life we lived.

–Douglas Coupland, Life After God (1994), p. 340

Life After God