PAY ATTENTION, YOU BASTARDS,
ETIQUETTE AHEAD!

[Had this in the tabs for a couple days and now have the time to comment on it.]

A PUBLIC SERVICE

There are times when someone provides a public service to others less fortunate. One such service was stumbled upon a few days ago.

Little Miss Attila (Break a rule? No need to call for back-up–her name itself provides the necessary authority) provides help for the blogging-challenged among us.

Blogging Guidelines: Ethical Concerns, and Advice—DRAFT 1

The need is great.

LMA is nothing if not versatile. Sometimes, her advice is gentle, providing etiquette tips for the unknowing.

Keep all of your block quotations to a reasonable length; try not to quote at great length unless the publication you are quoting is subscribtion-only, or out-of-print. Never quote an entire blog entry (unless it is exceedingly short, and part of a series).

Do not duplicate a picture of another blogger from their own site without their permission. Do not copy a photo or image of any kind from their site without proper credit and a link. Give a credit (and linkage, where appropriate) to any mainstream/legacy material you are using.

At other times, she’s positively Emily Post-al. About her own commenting policy:

I allow misogyny in my comments section, because it is generally directed at me, and I feel it shows the true colors of the woman-hating commenters. Any anti-male, anti-Asian, anti-gay, anti-tranny, anti-black, anti-American Indian, and anti-Jewish comments, though (or ones that look like they might be indicative of biases in that direction) generally get a warning, and a reminder that repeated offenses are subject to redaction, and banning. (Yeah, I have a little Native American in me, but most people don’t know that, and it doesn’t show in my picture, fair as I am. My half-sister is half-Syrian, though, so anti-Arab posters get cussed at. And my niece? Half-Polish, so don’t even fucking try that, either.)

And if you continue to ignore good Internet manners?

“Now go away, because I don’t want you as a reader. Thanks.”

Which is all as it should be.

NOTE: The commentariat at the LMA site provide a variety of helpful tips in the comments section.

image: Best Game Wallpapers/DBKP
Go to DBKP Front Page

NEWS YOU CAN USE

Five skills not everyone has–or wants, maybe–but are useful in today’s a-go-go world. Pepper your food like a pro, how to spot a poser, how to make a good drink, how to shovel your walk so it’s spotless and how to catch an iPhone thief.

We’ll give you the down-and-dirty; click on the links for more info.

1-Pepper Your Food Like a Pro

It’s very simple: if you use a pepper mill, then simply twist a quarter-turn of ground pepper onto a plate, press your index finger on the pepper grounds and whatever sticks to your finger is the right amount to flick into your soup, salad, mashed potatoes, whatever.
–How to Add the Proper Amount of Pepper to Food

2- How to Spot a Poser

Every day you’re surrounded by people whose motives may not be clear. You may wonder whether they really are who they say they are, and if they really believe what they say that they do. Learning to spot a poser can be somewhat tricky, especially if the person is really good at hiding his true identity. Here’s how you can spot a poser in your own social circles.
–How to spot a poser

3- Make a Good Drink

Good booze is not rocket science, nor does it have to be expensive. A very small amount of prep time, a little attention to detail, some creativity, and bingo: cocktails after work for you and yours, or you and your friends. You will need, the right equipment, yummy finger foods, and some great drinks. The internet is replete with recipes and methods so I wont bother here. Don’t let terms like muddle, strain, and garnish intimidate you. An orange can be garnished and made into ingredients in seconds. If you screw up a drink too badly, it can always be tossed out. (that was a difficult sentence to type)
–The Booze Thread Pt 2: Happy Hour and Making Great Drinks.

4- How to Shovel Your Walk Of Snow So That It Is Spotless

Step 1: Use the cooking spray on the plastic bottom of the shovel so that the snow glides off of it easier. Then shovel the snow away from the walkway by pushing the shovel in front of you underneath the snow.
–How to Shovel Your Walk Of Snow So That It Is Spotless

5- How to catch an iPhone thief

The whole thing started when my plane landed in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon at 2:55pm coming from Cabo San Lucas. The guy sitting next to me on the plane asked me to loan him a pen so that he could fill out his customs form. I watched him fill out the form and clearly remember his birth year of 1984, but am a bit unsure about his name. I think it was —–, but in this story, we will refer to him as Pinche.
[...]
When it came time to move into the aisle, an old lady sitting in 27C started moving and so I stopped, but Pinche saw this as an opportunity. He bumped me, then jumped in front of the old lady and ran off of the plane. I waited for the old lady to step into the aisle, and I walked behind her. Five seconds later, I reached for my phone and it was not in my pocket anymore. I waited for everyone to exit the plane and went back to my seat. I looked everywhere but was not able to find the phone. One of the flight attendants (Karen) offered to help. She called the phone and it was not ringing. This was strange because I had perfect reception a minute ago.
–Busting an iPhone thief

Did readers find any of these useful?

Go to DBKP Front Page

Those ads showing orange Verizon covering most of the USA with its cell phone 3G network–with AT&T’s network coverage looking anemic–will continue to roll.

AT&T has dropped its lawsuit against Verizon over the ads.

FROM AT&T drops lawsuit against Verizon over advertising spat:

After failing to have Verizon’s advertisements criticizing its network coverage pulled off of the air, AT&T has decided to drop its lawsuit against the nation’s largest wireless carrier.

Both Verizon and AT&T filed an official dismissal of the case in an Atlanta, Ga., federal court Wednesday. In addition, a separate lawsuit filed by Verizon against AT&T was also dismissed.

In November, AT&T had asked the court to pull what it felt were “misleading” advertisements from Verizon, criticizing AT&T’s nationwide 3G coverage. But a judge later denied that request, noting that though Verizon’s ads could be construed as “sneaky,” they were not misleading. Both parties were originally set to meet in court on Dec. 16 for a second chance to present their case on the proposed injunction.

Read the rest at the link above.

So, it looks like Verizon’s commercials, while “sneaky” are truthful.

AT&T better hurry to catch up.

image: www.tehkseven.ne

LUCKY AMERICANS LIKELY WON’T EVEN NOTICE THE GOV’T TAKING YOUR MONEY FOR FRAUD

AP Science Writer Hides ClimateGate, Shills for Alarmist Frauds

THANKS, SETH BORENSTEIN!

Associated Press Science Writer, Seth Borenstein, ignores ClimateGate and instead spreads the news that your life won’t change much under the new Obama carbon targets.

From New climate targets may not change daily life much :

Americans’ day-to-day lives won’t change noticeably if President Barack Obama achieves his newly announced goal of slashing carbon dioxide pollution by one-sixth in the next decade, experts say.

Except for rising energy bills. And how much they’ll go up depends on who’s doing the calculating.

Except for rising energy bills?!? Hey, Seth, we wouldn’t even notice that if you’d pay for the rise. But we’ll be paying for it.

Seth doesn’t quote anyone whose bill will be rising.

The article contains no “Hey, I didn’t even notice they were in my pocket. Thanks, Seth, for looking out for me!”

Borenstein shills for the Goremons and their ’scientist’ ilk. NOT A WORD of the scam that is the Mann* Made Global Warming Fraud.

Perhaps his title should read, Seth Borenstein, “Science” Writer.

The AP continues its slide into deserved oblivion.

* – Refers to Michael Mann, he of the debunked “hockey stick” hokey schtick graph.

Did Wiki editors desert the online compendium during the first quarter 2009?

From Wikipedia ‘loses’ 49,000 editors:

Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia “lost” 49,000 of its volunteer editors in the first three months of 2009, University research suggests.

The figure compares with a loss of 4,900 over the same period in 2008.

The encyclopaedia-style website encourages editorial changes from everybody who comes to the site.

Wikimedia UK, a chapter of the organisation that operates Wikipedia, has denied that it means the site is struggling.

The report cites Felipe Ortega, from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, who carried out the research.

Wikipedia is a fine source for historical entries, but the online encyclopedia has been accused of biased editing on political entries.

During the John Edwards Scandal, Wikipedia banned all mention of the topic on its site–until Edwards confessed publicly.

This blackout occurred even though “Rielle Hunter”–Edwards’ mistress who carried his baby–was the most-searched term on Google during parts of December 2007 and in the weeks before Edwards confessed.

This was not the first time that Wikipedia had been accused of biased editing of political articles at the site. Does the desertion of 49000 editors have anything to do with this?

We await further reports.

Friday the 13th: The Unluckiest Day

In case you missed it the first time we posted it in June 2008, Friday the 13th: Why Friday the 13th is Considered Unlucky.

It explores the history of why Friday the 13th is considered so unlucky.

A random and sundry collection of information on the (supposedly) unluckiest of days: Friday the 13th.

* Friday the 13th is considered a day of bad luck in English-, French- and Portuguese-speaking countries around the world, as well as in Austria, Germany, Estonia, Finland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, and the Philippines.

* Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13.

There’s much more…

Some of the Friday the 13th “facts” are complete bunkum (In our opinion); some are interesting and others have a historical reason for designating the 13th day of the month–when it falls on a Friday–as “unlucky”.

This is the 3rd time in 2009 that Friday the 13th has appeared. February, March and November all have the unlucky day: Friday the 13th. It’s the last time for 2009.

In 2010, Friday the 13th will only make one appearance: in August.

SOME WON’T LIKE IT; SOME WILL
OTHERS WILL SHRUG

Jason Falls Predicts Google Will Buy Twitter:

It is clear that Twitter is a valuable tool for business. WebProNews spoke with Jason Falls, the Principal of Social Media Explorer, who believes the reasoning behind this thinking is a result of the “conversational platform” Twitter provides for business usage. It is for this very same reason that he predicts Google will acquire the microblogging service.

Earlier in the year, Falls predicted that Google would buy Twitter by the end of the year. Although it may not happen within that time frame, he hopes and believes it will happen eventually.

Video at link.

For those who think “big is bad”, this is not good news. Most people could care less–as long as no one notices any differences in service or how easy it is to use Twitter.

Despite all the gains other companies (Google, Facebook) have made,

Despite all the gains other companies (Google, Facebook) have made, it’s still Microsoft’s world, according to new statistics from comScore. comScore found that, in terms of time spent on sites, the Redmond-based corporation continues to maintain a huge lead over its competitors.

People spent about 3.920 billion hours on Microsoft’s sites in September, which equates to about 14.5 percent of the total time spent online. Meanwhile, people only spent about 2.512 hours on Google-owned sites, which works out to 9.3 percent of the total. And Google barely logged more growth than Microsoft (48 percent versus 44 percent).

From “Time Spent Online” Report Puts Microsoft Way Ahead

Is it being mean to ask if all that time spent on-line at Microsoft sites were people trying to get help for Vista?

FCC moves to codify network neutrality principles

As expected, the vote was unanimous to launch the process, but the commission Republicans dissented on the factual basis undergirding it, which was that there were cracks and fissures in the open Internet that needed fixing. They warned of unintended consequences that could include reduction in service quality, a rise in price and disincentive to investment. . .

Net Neutrality is the beginning of the end for unregulated free speech on the Internet.

Its regulations attempt to fix what isn’t broken: the Internet.

There are those who think it’s overstating the case; that Net Neutrality is “no big deal”. Those people are the same basement civil libertarians who blogged unceasingly about the fascist Bush regime.

To repeat our point from earlier posts on the subject: this is not a Democrat-Republican, conservative-liberal issue. It is a freedom of speech issue, no matter which party holds the keys of power at any one moment.

That it has attracted a lot of attention on both sides of the political spectrum is encouraging.

It’s regulation dressed up as “protection”–the usual way government goes about the taking away of freedoms.

DBKP would gladly fight alongside anyone who opposes this–regardless of whether it’s Pat Buchanan or the Daily Kos.