I have, somewhat frequently made fun of the fact that I have earned about 8 cents in ad revenue from the ads on my blog. A few days ago I went to block certain ads from my site, particularly political ads, because I don't want the ads on my website to misrepresent me. I think that is perfectly fair.
Then I decided to rant about the situation. Also, again, my right... I mean I didn't make any threats or anything of that nature, no. I merely said what was on my mind, at least the public version of it, anyway.
A few hours later, on my blogger home page I noticed that the link to my adsense account is completely gone. The link to adsense is still visible on the other blogs I've started, but my adsense account no longer exists. I mean... The option isn't even available anymore? Really? Why? What the Hell?
I am not worried about the ad revenue. Really, Google, you can keep your 8 cents. I'm good. I don't know if it is purely coincidental or a glitch, but the timing is very intriguing. Ironically, when I check my page I am getting all kinds of the ads that I definitely blocked.
I don't know what's going on, I don't know what I should do -- if there is anything for me to do? I do feel it is important for me to have some level of control over the ads on my page. I haven't received any kind of correspondence from Google; however, after I posted the rant, I began having trouble with my site going down. I would try to view it to see changes I had made, but Chrome could not find it. I know others were having problems viewing it as well.
Trying to figure out what was wrong and changing different settings to see what effect each one had, I activated the adult content warning page (sorry about that, by the way). Then, magically, I stopped having trouble with my page. I don't know what to believe, I just had to say something. I am probably being paranoid and am worrying about nothing. It's probably best (for me) to just assume my sanity is questionable than to assume that someone really is fucking with me.
I don't really want to publish this, but I feel like I have to publish it. Even if nobody reads it. At least it will be out there.
Or maybe not. I don't know. Wow, I am indecisive.
Or maybe I am misleading you, to distract you. Maybe it's a ploy and I am just having fun. Maybe I am completely serious.
END SONG
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Civic Duty
Bob Dylan's calm unwavering voice singing in my ear, the Times they have been a-changing, but only for the worse.
We are in an epic downward spiral, closer and closer to oblivion.
It is preventable, but most people will not stand up and do anything.
Most people will remain complacent,
and sit with there happy little distractions,
and zone out,
closer and closer to oblivion.
I am, myself guilty.
I will be the first to admit.
That's just it, though, we are all guilty of it.
The problems are complex. A seemingly untangleable knot.
I stand up and, like Howard Beale in Network,
shout "I'm Mad as Hell, and I'm not going to take it."
I just don't understand why people just can't get along.
Are our differences really good reasons to hate each other? Really? We really can't get past that already?
Whatever happened to the concept Great Society? Why aren't we having this discourse?
These dreams, while ideals, will certainly never be attainable if we don't strive for them.
Yes, we will never reach the ideal state, but, if we try real hard, we can certainly come closer to it than we are now.
Why do peace and love have to be such dirty, hated words? Why is our society, right now, so averse to those ideas? Why can't we have empathy for each other and also accept our own limitations but always strive for better? Are we, as a society unable? Is that really too much to ask?
I have more questions than answers, but maybe more people need to be asking questions. Maybe my individual questions, by themselves, will have no impact upon the whole, but maybe more people should just be asking questions.
Out loud.
Maybe I was wrong. before. I make a better dissident than a Lotus-eater.
Civic duty extends beyond merely voting or following the laws, some times it involves asking the right people the right questions.
We are in an epic downward spiral, closer and closer to oblivion.
It is preventable, but most people will not stand up and do anything.
Most people will remain complacent,
and sit with there happy little distractions,
and zone out,
closer and closer to oblivion.
I am, myself guilty.
I will be the first to admit.
That's just it, though, we are all guilty of it.
The problems are complex. A seemingly untangleable knot.
I stand up and, like Howard Beale in Network,
shout "I'm Mad as Hell, and I'm not going to take it."
I just don't understand why people just can't get along.
Are our differences really good reasons to hate each other? Really? We really can't get past that already?
Whatever happened to the concept Great Society? Why aren't we having this discourse?
These dreams, while ideals, will certainly never be attainable if we don't strive for them.
Yes, we will never reach the ideal state, but, if we try real hard, we can certainly come closer to it than we are now.
Why do peace and love have to be such dirty, hated words? Why is our society, right now, so averse to those ideas? Why can't we have empathy for each other and also accept our own limitations but always strive for better? Are we, as a society unable? Is that really too much to ask?
I have more questions than answers, but maybe more people need to be asking questions. Maybe my individual questions, by themselves, will have no impact upon the whole, but maybe more people should just be asking questions.
Out loud.
Maybe I was wrong. before. I make a better dissident than a Lotus-eater.
Civic duty extends beyond merely voting or following the laws, some times it involves asking the right people the right questions.
Friday, November 2, 2012
NOTE:
I have been adding some new pages, most of which are still in progress. Check them out and let me know what you think. If you have any suggestions, let me know, and I will take them under consideration. For those of you who are using the mobile version, I am sorry that these pages are unavailable to you right now. I am still trying to figure out how to make it so the links to my other pages appear on the mobile site. Any suggestions? Right now I am not coding, I am merely using Google's templates. I might do some programming of my own as the need arises. We'll see...
Thursday, November 1, 2012
The Award for Most Shameless Blog Post of the Day on Gabe's Blog goes to this Post!
Three posts in one day? Yikes, I must be really desperate for attention.
Or supposed to be working on something else.
Or both.
I haven't decided yet. Or come out of denial. One of the two. Or both? I don't know if both works in that instance.
I like it when I write in a series of loosely connected statements.
And then every once and a while go in a completely different direction.
I am a big fan of George Orwell.
My blogger is acting funny today.
I have been getting a lot of errors. Maybe it's because I have been on it like all day. I am connected to the Internet even when I am sleeping. We all are. Smartphones are a magic thing like that.
I prefer surfing on my laptop, though. As I am sure most people do. I tend to get more writing done. I used to use my phone to blog a lot, but it isn't nearly as fast (for writing).
I am interested in getting one of the windows 8 tablets. Maybe with my tax return.
It would be wholly unnecessary, though, so I probably won't.
I will use this computer until it is completely obsolete or it dies, whichever comes first. It will last longer than my Dell.
I had my Dell for about three and a half years. With this HP I am like a year and a half and I would say it's holding up better now than my Dell did at this same age.
Tom Cruise is irrelevant.
I am growing to enjoy Person of Interest more and more.
That was the truth and also a ploy to get more hits.
I should start randomly naming CBS products.
For instance, I might stay up and watch David Letterman tonight. I am not completely sold on Sherlock but I'll probably watch it. Action 19 news is the worst newscast in Cleveland. I would rather watch two hookers giving each other Cleveland Steamers.
I do really like Craig Ferguson, though.
And I still watch Criminal Minds, because I like the characters, although I miss Prentiss and Gideon. Yeah, I just got all nerdy and stuff.
And I watch the CBS Monday night lineup, even though I am not completely sold on any of the shows except for Two Broke Girls. That is a good joke oriented show.
Okay, I think that is enough shamelessness for one night.
I've noticed that when I talk about music more I tend to get more music ads, where as when I talk about literature and writing books I tend to get more of those ads. I wonder if I will get a CBS ad. It would be randomly, because I have mention CBS a number of times and even name-dropped CSI even though I am kind of done with that show.
CBS
CBS CBS
CBS CBS CBS
CBS CBS CBS CBS
CBS CBS CBS
CBS CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS
That is supposed to look like the flag in Super Mario Brothers, although I think it is going the wrong way. I don't really care, though.
I should work on my book some more. I am making some real progress. And I have done enough other things today to justify working on it again. I made some real headway brainstorming my papers, among other homework. I am going to get up tomorrow and do some reading for Monday and then maybe write an abstract for a conference.
Anyways, I should get to the book. I am currently editing page 64 of about 211. I am not sure on how many works as I have cut a lot out, but I am guess around 55,000. I am trying to not go under 50,000, but I am going for tight prose. It was over 70,000 words but it was sloppy. I am not the type of writer who would write a 1,000 page book. Not right now, anyways. That might change, eventually.
Or supposed to be working on something else.
Or both.
I haven't decided yet. Or come out of denial. One of the two. Or both? I don't know if both works in that instance.
I like it when I write in a series of loosely connected statements.
And then every once and a while go in a completely different direction.
I am a big fan of George Orwell.
My blogger is acting funny today.
I have been getting a lot of errors. Maybe it's because I have been on it like all day. I am connected to the Internet even when I am sleeping. We all are. Smartphones are a magic thing like that.
I prefer surfing on my laptop, though. As I am sure most people do. I tend to get more writing done. I used to use my phone to blog a lot, but it isn't nearly as fast (for writing).
I am interested in getting one of the windows 8 tablets. Maybe with my tax return.
It would be wholly unnecessary, though, so I probably won't.
I will use this computer until it is completely obsolete or it dies, whichever comes first. It will last longer than my Dell.
I had my Dell for about three and a half years. With this HP I am like a year and a half and I would say it's holding up better now than my Dell did at this same age.
Tom Cruise is irrelevant.
I am growing to enjoy Person of Interest more and more.
That was the truth and also a ploy to get more hits.
I should start randomly naming CBS products.
For instance, I might stay up and watch David Letterman tonight. I am not completely sold on Sherlock but I'll probably watch it. Action 19 news is the worst newscast in Cleveland. I would rather watch two hookers giving each other Cleveland Steamers.
I do really like Craig Ferguson, though.
And I still watch Criminal Minds, because I like the characters, although I miss Prentiss and Gideon. Yeah, I just got all nerdy and stuff.
And I watch the CBS Monday night lineup, even though I am not completely sold on any of the shows except for Two Broke Girls. That is a good joke oriented show.
Okay, I think that is enough shamelessness for one night.
I've noticed that when I talk about music more I tend to get more music ads, where as when I talk about literature and writing books I tend to get more of those ads. I wonder if I will get a CBS ad. It would be randomly, because I have mention CBS a number of times and even name-dropped CSI even though I am kind of done with that show.
CBS
CBS CBS
CBS CBS CBS
CBS CBS CBS CBS
CBS CBS CBS
CBS CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS
CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS CBS
That is supposed to look like the flag in Super Mario Brothers, although I think it is going the wrong way. I don't really care, though.
I should work on my book some more. I am making some real progress. And I have done enough other things today to justify working on it again. I made some real headway brainstorming my papers, among other homework. I am going to get up tomorrow and do some reading for Monday and then maybe write an abstract for a conference.
Anyways, I should get to the book. I am currently editing page 64 of about 211. I am not sure on how many works as I have cut a lot out, but I am guess around 55,000. I am trying to not go under 50,000, but I am going for tight prose. It was over 70,000 words but it was sloppy. I am not the type of writer who would write a 1,000 page book. Not right now, anyways. That might change, eventually.
Society is into Semantic S&M
I like how we (and yes, the cultural "we") use some of the same terms for sex/sexuality as for violence/negativity. Some examples:
Depending on how you wish to use the term, the syntax changes to provide the context for your listener/reader to understand which definition you are using.
Ambiguity is an interesting topic. I am studying semantics/pragmatics in two of my classes and my other course is all about defining literacy in different contexts and showing how it has varied across space and time. Not to mention the fact that ambiguity is essential in most literature. Or at least the mask of ambiguity. There is a certain amount of ambiguity inherent in all of us, due to the different faces we where depending upon whose company we are in (Yes, I know I ended that sentence with a preposition. Deal with it, Brainiac).
Each (social) group develops its own dialect over time. It's inevitable. We all rub off on one another, and how we speak and write is affected according to who with we are trying to communicate. We are all literate in multiple dialects.
Anyway, we call it slang, and I think slang is a dialect in development. When a new usage (of a word, of punctuation, of grammar) becomes standard among a group, it always follows some kind of logic that works with the overall universal grammar, which is made up of symbols which we develop psychologically.
Anyway, that is what some people believe, and I am leaning towards at this point, unless someone comes up with a more viable theory, but this one is at least based on science on some level.
Studying the language makes studying literature that much more interesting, too, because it allows me to actually get into the writing process and to think about the choices that the writer must have made. It really breaks it all apart on a foundational level. Hopefully it makes me a better writer, too.
- I'm gonna fuck you/I'm gonna fuck you up,
- hit/hit that,
- spanking
- jerking off/jerking around
- banging
Depending on how you wish to use the term, the syntax changes to provide the context for your listener/reader to understand which definition you are using.
Ambiguity is an interesting topic. I am studying semantics/pragmatics in two of my classes and my other course is all about defining literacy in different contexts and showing how it has varied across space and time. Not to mention the fact that ambiguity is essential in most literature. Or at least the mask of ambiguity. There is a certain amount of ambiguity inherent in all of us, due to the different faces we where depending upon whose company we are in (Yes, I know I ended that sentence with a preposition. Deal with it, Brainiac).
Each (social) group develops its own dialect over time. It's inevitable. We all rub off on one another, and how we speak and write is affected according to who with we are trying to communicate. We are all literate in multiple dialects.
Anyway, we call it slang, and I think slang is a dialect in development. When a new usage (of a word, of punctuation, of grammar) becomes standard among a group, it always follows some kind of logic that works with the overall universal grammar, which is made up of symbols which we develop psychologically.
Anyway, that is what some people believe, and I am leaning towards at this point, unless someone comes up with a more viable theory, but this one is at least based on science on some level.
Studying the language makes studying literature that much more interesting, too, because it allows me to actually get into the writing process and to think about the choices that the writer must have made. It really breaks it all apart on a foundational level. Hopefully it makes me a better writer, too.
National Novel Editing Month
Happy National Novel Writing Month! One of these years I will actually participate and write a draft of a novel. Right now I just don't have the time. If I were to participate, it would take away from this blog, so... Maybe I will have my own version, National Novel Editing Month and try to finish editing it. I am about a quarter of the way through it. I figure, if I can go through it and edit it and then during Christmas Break go back and make the changes and then proofread, that I can be ready to start pursuing getting an agent early next year. I just have to balance it with school and life and work and the holidays... If I am diligent and push myself to do it when I am just watching TV or during study breaks or breaks in writing papers, I can easily accomplish this goal.
Plus, if I can, once and for all, finish this one, I can move on to the next one and really put my full effort into it. It is high time that I finished this one, it has been a long time coming, because I am too much of a perfectionist. According to my standards, I don't know that I can ever get it done. It does have to be consistently good and free of typos and GSP errors. It also has to be thematically consistent with no logical gaps and nothing that distracts the reader. While I could release a version of it now, I know it is not the best that it could be, even though it is the best that it has been (prior to the edit I have been working on for the past few months).
While I definitely do have to spend a large chunk of my next four days off to my school work and my final projects, I will also be working on editing. Elliot, on the other hand, will still be working on sleeping and licking his genitals. I won't lie, I am a little jealous.
Plus, if I can, once and for all, finish this one, I can move on to the next one and really put my full effort into it. It is high time that I finished this one, it has been a long time coming, because I am too much of a perfectionist. According to my standards, I don't know that I can ever get it done. It does have to be consistently good and free of typos and GSP errors. It also has to be thematically consistent with no logical gaps and nothing that distracts the reader. While I could release a version of it now, I know it is not the best that it could be, even though it is the best that it has been (prior to the edit I have been working on for the past few months).
While I definitely do have to spend a large chunk of my next four days off to my school work and my final projects, I will also be working on editing. Elliot, on the other hand, will still be working on sleeping and licking his genitals. I won't lie, I am a little jealous.
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