888 Holdings is a $1.5billion company built on spam. Last year, prior to their CSFB underwritten IPO I noticed that a large portion of the comment spam on my own site was from them and called them up in their gangster den in Gibraltar (largely for a laugh).

Their share price is holding up nicely, after all, blog spamming etc. is far too geeky and seems too trivial for people to listen to. I would argue that 888's revenues, and certainly their initial competitive edge, are significantly dependent on spam. Recently one of their own industry organizations, the International Gaming Affiliate Marketing Initiative, IGAMI, has blacklisted them because of spamming.

If this had been a company employing the same techniques in traditional marketing, their IPO would have been pulled and some of its employees would likely have ended up in jail. But no investigative journalist has so far covered the case.

This is from a report by the IGAMI:

"iGAMI has been meticulously investigating and tracking unscrupulous marketing activities since September of 2005 conducted by and/or for the online casino - Casino on Net / 888; which is currently listed on the London Stock Exchange – FTSE - 888 HOLDINGS PLC.

Our investigation indicated that this casino has engaged in and benefited directly from unethical marketing techniques leading up to, during, and after their floatation late last year.

We discovered numerous instances of blog and forum spamming* where domains owned and operated by Cassava Enterprises were being impermissibly promoted on unsuspecting websites. We have further discovered thousands of domains; which were and continue to this day to employ a technique referred to as scraping**.

Based on these findings and 888’s failure to address the issues in a comprehensive and timely manner the iGAMI Advisory Board voted to place the 888/Casino On Net affiliate program and its casino clients onto an industry blacklist."

The International Gaming Affiliate Marketing Initiative

Would you help an alcoholic by giving him $100 to buy liquor?

The US is adicted to oil, according to the president. The proposed solution... to subsidize gas.

CNN.com - Senators to push for $100 gas rebate checks - Apr 27, 2006

Quines (self-replicating programs)

The Republican religious base is crawling out of its primordial slime to promote its main priorities for the mid-term elections: banning some people from using a particular word to describe their relationship when it is closer to their own ideal of a monogamous family unit and making it illegal to destroy graven idols representing a line on a map.
These are important issues after all, when the alternatives are global unrest dues to energy crises and the death of the planet due to environmental catastrophe.

The fascinating thing about the social conservative disease is that it requires a view of the world which is not based upon traditional morals or any concept of progress. To demonstrate this, let's use the example for gay rights.

Most social conservatives, who aren't criminals, probably agree that someone like Elton John should not be dragged into the street and pelted to a bloody death with rocks, (despite the release of 'I'm Still Standing'). Most of these people also agree that he shouldn't be put in jail because of his sexual preference. Yet most of these people would argue that Sir Elton shouldn't have been able to marry his partner. The argument is 'things have just gone too far'. This is not a political belief so much as an uncourageous disposition - cowardice in the face of progress.

The problem of social conservatism is the 'reverse induction' argument. I.E. the same group of people 50 years ago would have thought that outright murder of gays was probably wrong and that marriage was so inconceivable as to be not worth bothering about, but a good idea was making sure that being openly gay could get you locked up in the one place where you would definitely get laid by another guy.

In short, social conservatives are not defending traditional values (if they are they are breaking the law) or looking to a brighter future, but are an insignificant artifact representing the fleeting transience of the here and now.

CNN.com - GOP hones its core agenda - Apr 15, 2006

The Oil We Eat (Harpers.org)

Richard Manning proposes that staples such as wheat, corn and rice are plants that thrive in the type of barren flooded landscape the were the result of the catastrophic melting following the last ice age. Farming, he proposes, is the 'nuking' of the landscape, the clearing of the forest.

"Farming is the process of ripping that niche open again and again. It is an annual artificial catastrophe, and it requires the equivalent of three or four tons of TNT per acre for a modern American farm. Iowa's fields require the energy of 4,000 Nagasaki bombs every year."

Interesting article, however, the opening points which state that all our energy comes from plants capturing solar energy, ignore geothermal, gravitational and atmosperic energy. As can be demonstrated by the fact that we could theoretically grow plants underground under electric lights powered by the tidal energy from the moon.

The guys behind Blox were the Oddpost guys, and they pretty much created ajax. Blox was an online spreadsheet app and it was great but before its time.

With the release of Google Calendar, Excel is the only reason I have to go near a PC or any Microsoft products. I've got nothing against Microsoft as a big corp, I just think their products are like badly made, vintage toys

So please, I want Blox back.

Google Calendar

Tuberculosis - Fact Sheet

Valleywag: Gizmodo talks to YouTube:

"Q: Facebook just turned down a $750 million offer, saying they were seeking $2 billion. Do consider yourself a million-dollar-kind-of guy or a billion-dollar-kind-of guy?

A: What we're really committed to is providing the best experience, and we're not really thinking about what we're worth. We're just viewing this as solving a really hard problem and that's how to distribute video in an entertaining way. So as we move forward, we're just going to stay committed to that"

or...

'Look we're a one show (America's Best Home Videos) product with clips we didn't secure the rights for. We can't talk money till we make sure we're not just a free version of Akamai.'

But hey, users are everything, right? Yes if you are Google, and Overture's business model rains greenbacks out of the sky like an endless ticker parade. No if you are Napster and you are just being crapped on.

It'll be interesting to see if the sky turns green or brown for Youtube.

Apparently Starbucks is suing because someone is using their trademark 'double shot'.

From now on I will refuse to use Starbucks trademarked terminology when ordering coffee just to mess with them (I could always just not buy Starbucks coffee, but that would be adult and mature and inconvenient):

I will ask for Small, Medium or Large instead of the stupid: Tall; Grande; Venti, Party Bucket and Swimming Pool or whatever.

I will ask for Skimmed milk in California and Non- Fat milk in New York (this apparently seems to confuse them).

I will remind them I wasn't invited every time I am referred to as a "guest".

When asked for my name, it will be: "freecoffeeforeveryone" or "Hugh Janus" or something equally hilarious.

And I will ask for a "doubleshoto (sic) expresso" from now on.

I'm sure Starbucks are trembling at the thought, but its probably just too much coffee.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Saturn's moon 'best bet for life'

"If the magma were to cool, he said, it would become more viscous, increasing friction from tidal churning and so producing more heat. But if temperatures veered higher, the magma would flow more easily, and tidal heat production would reduce accordingly."

Victor, Parisian student, protesting the job contract that could have been in France:

"It means that when I do get a job I will basically have to work as hard as I can to keep it."

Now that the French government has capitulated, I guess he won't have to work hard any more.

Lets get this in perspective, this was a law that suggested, after compromise, that you could be fired within your first year on your first job, providing there was a reason. - That's all.

This is not 19th century style worker exploitation, but stopping the contract will lead to it, because in a globalised economy the fact is that French jobs will now go somewhere where there is genuine exploitation. It was an attempt to help poor people get a start.

And think how ridiculous this all sounds if you use being in a band as an analogy as my friend Buck and I were discussing:

Imagine you start a band with some friends - an entrepreneurial activity that is not normally labelled 'capitalist'. You take on a young bass player who seems to be ok, but its his first time in a band and it turns out that he can't actually play anything other than what he did at audition and doesn't want to learn how to. At your next gig people boo you off stage.

Now imagine that its illegal for you to get a replacement bassist without giving the previous guy his share of the money you get from gigs that he's not playing at, for up to a year and a half.

Knowing this in advance, would you be more or less likely to hire a young inexperienced bass player and give him a chance?

French labour law row: Students' reaction:

Lubos Motl (a must read blogger) points out that climate change, is the new religion.

First things first - climate change is very real and very worrying, if you look at the empirical data and spread of opinion amongst people studying it. It appears to be more truth than fiction - an idea bolstered by the amusing fact that the poster child (the inadmirable Crichton) of the 'its fiction' camp, is indeed noted for his science fiction. The problem is not that the truth is winning, its that its winning too easily and data is being amplified and distorted as it moves into the mainstream culture, and this does not help in the long term.

What are the reasons for this?

1. Darwinism, is being distorted and muted by the negative feedback loop of people who want religious certainty and human primacy instead of evolutionary gradualism and primate-acy. Climate change is experiencing the opposite effect, it is a viral meme that happens to be true. The idea feeds off the delusional end times hysteria that tin-foil hat Christian fundamentalists have injected into millennium time, post 911, American mainstream culture and foreign policy.

2. Even for Darwininsts and people with too much body hair, our ape-like ancestry may seem remote. But the weather - well its everywhere and it affects everyone. If you have nothing else to talk about with someone, at least you can have a conversation about the weather.

3. DIMBY - Definitely In My Back Yard. A people centric, view of the world is natural. Since the weather is everywhere, it affects everyone and people care about what happens in their back yard - like the giant mud slide that just removed their back yard.

4. Human beings don't live very long and so natural weather fluctuations that do not show any long term trend - every single Gaian twitch from earthquakes to April showers will have people subconsciously blaming climate change.

That the truth is winning under false pretences, may not be a problem - that's pretty much how democracy works even at its best - but there is a danger that if falsehoods are exposed they could disillusion people and create a dangerous setback for the need to really do something drastic about climate change.

After all - you can only have so much doom - its no fun, and people may start partying again instead of fixing things.

Luboš Motl's reference frame: Climate apocalypse is the new religion

New Dinosaur Resembles 7 foot tall brightly colored 25 mph Turkey

The Food Timeline: food history reference & research service

"Ever wonder what foods the Vikings ate when they set off to explore the new world? How Thomas Jefferson made his ice cream? What the pioneers cooked along the Oregon Trail? Who invented the potato chip...and why? Welcome to the Food Timeline."

The Guardian reports on the case of a man who took 40,000 ecstasy tablets in 16 years, giving doctors a unique insight into the long term affects.

Given that:

1. this man is still alive.
2. he was clearly an idiot to start with.
3. he's a habitual user of several other narcotics.
4. taking that many aspirin would be very dangerous.

Surprisingly, ecstasy would seem to be relatively safe.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | The strange case of the man who took 40,000 ecstasy pills in nine years

A very good speech, on the things that matter. Perhaps the Democrats will get their sorry act together at last.

Think Progress » Remarks of Senator Barack Obama, 4/3/06

Its fairly odd that a design tweak like the New York Times' website overhaul should be news, particularly since CNN did pretty much the same thing with less fuss a couple of weeks ago. And it took the times nearly a year!

Nerertheless, something interesting is at work - first, sites are now ignoring smaller screens for the first time in years - 1024 pixels wide is becoming the standard. More importantly, by ignoring the low end they can also ignore large screens in a way that 800 pixel wide designs didn't really cut it. They are bypassing the ridiculous 'holy grail' three column CSS layout that geeks with no graphic design sense use in favor of fixed column, paper-like designs used by web designers.

Lastly, with RSS and Ajax, the notion of a page impression is gone - and yet that, rather than just impressions is what is often measured for advertising.

I wonder how long the page impression metric will last?

The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia