Dick Logan

Archive for July, 2008

Oh boy.  At his own campaign support meeting, an unpaid volunteer spoke very bluntly to McCain about his lazy campaign staff.  While looking noticeably uncomfortable and too afraid to swat a fly away that lands on his forehead to avoid any attention that would be paid to it, he listens to the volunteer say that the unpaid workers did all the work.  The video can be seen here.

I am by no means a lawyer or well educated in law, but can we sue or press charges of any kind to prevent the failed Freddie Mac CEO walking away with $20 million dollars and us having to pay the bill?  Could there be someway that we could pool money, like we did for Helen Thomas to buy flowers, to hire an attorney that would fight for every single person in America?

I was reading this article by Business Pundit that explained how 3 top American icons: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, GM, and Anheuser-Busch have significantly changed in the past week. Although I am saddened by the fact that Anheuser-Busch is no longer an American beer, the news that the SUV, hummer, and easy loans have been wiped off the map has left me optimistic that the United States is on the right path.

If the American dream involved someone owning an SUV and a house that they couldn’t afford, then fuck the American dream. No one’s lifestyle is going to be significantly different by owning a smaller car instead of an SUV. If someone bought a house they couldn’t afford, they simply don’t deserve the house. Houses aren’t free, despite what the bank loans in the last couple of years were making them appear to be.

Whose American dream is this anyway? It certainly isn’t mine. I’m 22 years old and far more concerned about the environment and US economic policies than my parents ever were. I have a feeling this American dream belongs to the Baby Boomers, grown-up hippies and soccer moms who enjoyed the spoils of winning a world war without even having to fight. Now that it’s my generation’s turn in the societal and economic limelight, I’m fucked because of the carelessness and greed employed by my parents.

If that’s what the American dream is like, good riddance to it. We’ll be better off without it. I only hope that when the Baby Boomers are all gone within the coming decades my generation can reverse their ways and proudly say to them: “At an end your rule is… and not short enough it was.”

Ad placement is the one of the two biggest factors you have control over when it comes to improving click rates with your content, that and choosing the proper coloring scheme.  More often than not, many webmasters shrug this part of the process off and position the ads wherever they seem convenient.  This is a mistake because careful consideration must be done in order to assure the best placement of the ads and in doing so earn the highest amount of money possible.

What I’ve done with alot of my sites is put the Adsense ads at the top of single blog posts.  That way the visitor is sure to see the ad right away and cannot avoid it.  Since I’ve implemented the changes across my sites I have increased my Adsense revenue by 10%.

Do not be afraid to show your ads, you worked hard to produce the content and it’s your site and you can do what you want with it.

In a sad turn of events, one of the most successful and powerful American businesses is no more.  Anheuser-Busch has been bought out by a Belgian company, InBev, who make Stella Artois and Beck’s beers.

While attending college these last four years, whenever I bought a case of bud light or natty I was proud it was a symbol of my country.  I even bought stock in the company because I knew nothing could beat it.  So I was caught off-guard when I read the small headline on the CNN website that said of the buyout.  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, I had to read it twice.

I suppose that’s what happens in a weak economy.  I’m sure the current economic status of America could have something to do with it, maybe the business was just trying to bail out before the economic shit really hits the fan.  With the Fed bailing out Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, this is probably the first of many companies in America that will jump ship from a sinking economy and dollar.

One of the reasons why America is so powerful and influential is because of its companies.  As evil as they are, when we lose them we lose our cultural reach and soft power around the globe.

I am so pissed off right now. I’ve just found out that for months my blogs and other sites have been, without my permission, blocked by my own hosting company.

I seriously did not know what the heck was going on with my SERPS. I just figured that Google had just given up on me, discarded me for better content. If that had anything to do with me losing my pagerank then I am going to be terribly upset. This blog had a pagerank of 2, with a future pagerank of 5, and now it is zero. My other blog, a 4, now zero.

I am now definitely paranoid about if they’ll change it back. Does that mean I have to check all of my sites everyday in fear of my hosting company blocking me?