Just another WordPress site

You’ve probably seen the targeted text ads that Google runs alongside its search results. Well, it seems that Google is now offering its “AdSense” technology “for web publishers who want to make more revenue from advertising on their site while maintaining editorial quality.” The ads are supposedly targeted according to the content on your page; I found a very useful page that preview the ads for a particular URL. Here is a preview of ads for the blog/home page , and here is a preview for my ‘80s main page.

I’ve avoided banner ads and their ilk for some time now, although I have subscribed to several affiliate programs like Amazon, MovieGoods, and GEMM to help pay for ISP costs, web hosting services, and domain name registration. I’ve never made much money with any of those programs, and I have yet to come close to turning a profit on the site, but that was never the goal of my site anyway. Still, it would be nice to turn some of those hits into some money I could put towards offsetting my costs. On the other hand, I really don’t want to “sell out.” The text-based ads are fairly unobtrusive, at least, but I don’t know whether it’s worth compromising my site’s relatively noncommercial content. What do you think? I’ll see if I can direct some traffic to my message board; I’ve posted a poll there to let you guys vote, or post comments below and please let me know what you think. Thanks in advance…

The BBC reports that a team of geologists has discovered a meteor crater in Italy that dates back to around A.D. 300, which could explain a divine vision supposedly witnessed by Emperor Constantine in A.D. 312 during a battle for the rule of Rome. Traditional accounts of the event relate that a “radiant cross appearing in the heavens, with the inscription, ‘By this thou shalt conquer,’” inspiring him and his army to win the battle and convincing him to allow Christianity to flourish under his subsequent rule. One wonders whether a chance event like a meteor impact could have irrevocably altered history…

I was wondering why there haven’t been comments recently, but it turns out that the comment numbers just aren’t updating. Supposedly the code needs to be updated, but I’m still trying to figure this out…

Update: OK, I fixed the comments. It turns out that the new version of Blogger wasn’t playing nicely with the YACCS comment JavaScript, but now that I’ve updated the template things seem to be working properly. Sorry for ignoring your comments; I just didn’t think there were any!

BTW, I really like the new interface of Blogger. I finally have the “extra” buttons that were only visible in M$IE, something that pissed me off to no end. Things seem to be stabler and quicker, and I can finally edit my template within the browser rather than in a text editor, another bug that really annoyed me. What do you think, Shaft/Czar?

Although not very detailed, this Shockwave Virtual Tour of The Simpsons’ House is pretty fun…

Try to guess the paint color from actual, but frustratingly ambiguous names like “Labrador Sands” and “Party Surprise” in The Paint Game. I only got 3 out of 10 right, supposedly “average…”

A lot of you are already Homestar Runner fans, but if you’re not, you’re missing out; go to the site now! Anyway, Wired News has a cool interview with the two creators of the site; I’m really glad to hear that they’re doing so well, as they must put a lot of work into that site. Finally, for your additional viewing pleasure, check out this list of the Top 20 Strongbad E-mails.

I think I need this T-Shirt, although it might threaten my radio play. Oh wait, I’m not the Dixie Chicks. Still, maybe I shouldn’t burn any bridges just in case…

ESPN’s Page 2 adds the Class of 2003 to its Bad Sports Hair Hall Of Shame, incorporating some reader-suggested additions. I’m glad that Jagr was mentioned but believe that he should have made the cut, as he had some of the worst hockey hair of all time…

Time for another Mozilla sermon! As if my previous posts weren’t enough already… 😉 Anyway, I read this article entitled “Friends don’t let friends use Outlook” that encourages people using the M$ Outlook e-mail application to switch to Mozilla Mail instead. The main issue in my opinion is one of security; Outlook is constantly the target of viruses and hacks, something M$ has never been able to keep up with and properly address. In addition, Mozilla Mail has some nice junk mail filters, all of the pop-up and ad blocking features that the Mozilla browser comes with, and it can handle multiple e-mail accounts, something that Outlook cannot. I know that many people don’t have a choice in the matter; I’m forced to deal with Outlook for my work e-mail. But for my personal e-mail at work and at home I refuse to use it. I’m in the midst of switching from Eudora, which is pretty good in its own right, to be fair, but it still lacks some of the features of Mozilla Mail. So what are you waiting for? Download Mozilla! If not, at least ditch Outlook for some other alternative; you’ll thank me in the long run…

I need want this. Now.