As I write this post, the blog is 332 people away from having received 100,000 unique visitors since it began (back in July 2006). In case the phrase ‘unique visitor’ is new to you, this is basically one person visiting the site. If they return within 24 hours, the repeat visit does not count towards unique visitor statistics (unlike a simple hit counter). Also, any visits from bots or spiders (from the search engines mostly) are not counted at all by both statistic packages I currently use (AWStats and FireStats).
So, if someone visits my site once a day all through October, my stats would show an extra 31 unique visitors. If they visited 31 times in one day, only ONE unique visitor is recorded. Anyway, thanks to those who know me and pop in occasionally to see what is new in our lives over here, thanks to those of you who come here from the search engines (I use a plugin that pings me each time I rank well for a google search) and especially those of you who come back again.
I’ve recently cut down on the adverts displayed on this site, especially those that were only shown for American visitors – the ads weren’t at all content-orientated, sometimes looked tacky, and to be completely honest were not generating anything like the income I had hoped for. You’ll also never find any sort of pop-up, pop-under, or full page sponsorship advert before you can access the site; each to their own, but I hate them when I’m randomly browsing around, so don’t want to inflict them on my visitors.
Oct 30 2008
100K Almost!
Oct 18 2008
Miss Lilly
[EDIT]
Amended time for cocktail happy hour. Thanks to Mel for the correction.
I have been meaning to post about Miss Lilly, an American singer who has taken up residence in Northwind (is that the right term? She will be there six nights a week for six months, anyway.) We have been to see her three times so far, and not been disappointed yet 🙂
Anyway, I promised her on Friday night that I would post details about what is going on this Monday, so…
Monday 20th October 2008
Northwind (“English Pub”)
Prospekt Respublika
Astana
Now I had little bit too much to drink on Friday (thanks to Dave, Mel, and Dave’s friend’s friend for getting me home safely), but I’m pretty sure that Miss Lilly said that this Monday there would be 50% off cocktails from 7pm-8pm, and a little later there would be karaoke. CORRECTION: Either 7-9 or 8-10 IS THE CORRECT TIME.
I could be off on the timings though, so do check at the bar first. I’m hoping that Ira and I can make it, and possibly bring the in-laws.
I tried to search online for some photos or videos of Miss Lilly performing, but can’t find any right now. I think I have some (very blurry) pics on my phone, so when I get back to the flat I’ll upload any that are vaguely useful.
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Oct 16 2008
UK Broadband Speeds
Back when 2Mbit connections were the most a residential customer could aspire to, the broadband speed tests that were available were, in general, reliable. Of course, if the server that the test data was held on was over in America, then you could expect slight variance between reported speeds and your actual potential maximum throughput, and if the test data size was too small, you would need to shop around for larger data test schemes. However, as ADSL+ and then ADSL2 became available, some of the older tests, or less reliable servers meant that such tests could not be relied upon to give accurate results. Of course, you could find three or four different suppliers of tests, run each four times and then average the results, but most people don’t bother. Virgin Media has been complaining that those of their customers who complain about slow speeds were often led to false, or at least slightly inaccurate conclusions. So they are apparently teaming up with on such bandwidth test supplier to try and ensure future tests are more reliable. For now, with my 256Kbit/sec connection, I don’t think I need to worry about changing my bookmarked tests just yet 🙂
Oct 15 2008
2D TV Style Prediction
OK, to my American readers, apologies, as this post’s title probably doesn’t make a great deal of sense. 2D TV was an ITV satirical show in the same vein as Spitting Image, but portrayed with animation instead of puppets. What do you mean “Spitting Image… Whats that?” go and Google/Wiki away your ignorance 🙂 I’ll wait.
…
Done?
Good, then I’ll continue. Anyway, the following was found on 236.com, and is supposed to be an idea of what would happen in the oval office, should McCain and Palin win the upcoming election.
My thanks to 236 for not making it difficult to embed their work on this site, just a quick view source was enough to find the relevant code, and no amendments were needed for once.
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Oct 15 2008
Obama AND McCain Not Eligible?
I was speaking with a friend yesterday about the American presidential election, having just finished watching Michael Moore’s Slacker Uprising. I tend not to dip into politics to often on this site, suffice to say I’m not exactly leaning to the right as I type this 🙂 Anyway, after the short conversation, I remember I had bookmarked something a while back, and had forgotten to post the link on here. So, a little belatedly, here it is – Obama’s Birth Certificate Is A Fake?
Personally, I would have been happier if it were something against McCain, rather than Obama, but I still found the article captivating reading. Even if the certificate turns out to be genuine, the processes involved in the testing were interesting, though if you don’t like the CSI series of TV shows, you might want to give it a miss.
Just before hitting the Publish button, I thought I would go and check McCain’s Wiki page. Glad I did, as within the discussion page, some people question McCain’s eligibility to be President as well! Check out the snopes page for a quick summary, and if you want to read a synopsis of a essay on the subject, check here.
Finally, I found the following YouTube video on Michael Moore’s Sicko film where he argues with Wolf Blitzer on CNN.
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Oct 08 2008
Brazilian Birds
Sorry for any readers expecting to find pictures of unusual hair styles on stunning woman, but this post is about lost (or at least unusually located) penguins being given a helping hand by the Brazilian Air Force. See the BBC article for full details, but it boils down to the birds travelling way off course, probably in an attempt to find new sources of food. Hats off to the BAF (OK, I admit, I have no clue what the correct acronym for Brazil’s air force is) for helping the birds, especially as they probably didn’t find relocation of aquatic wildlife in their job descriptions when they signed up for service.
Well I’m off to check if the BAF exists, and whether my memories of reading about penguins in South Africa is way off-course or not.
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Sep 07 2008
Buffalo vs. Lion … … vs. Croc
Ignore the advert (you can just click the little ‘X’ to remove it), and make sure you watch the video from beginning to end. The title of this post gives you a clue as to the main players, but you wouldn’t necessarily be able to guess the outcome of each battle. Don’t get all misty-eyed and stop the video too early…
One other thing I observed – the American woman/women who scream at key early points… if animal’s savage behaviour shocks you so much, perhaps don’t go on safari? (Firefox still wins any day 😉 )
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Jul 16 2008
Bush Tribute Smells A Bit Off
With their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks, a group in San Francisco wants to ‘honour’ George W. Bush by naming a sewage treatment plant after him!
If the Presidential Memorial Committee of San Francisco’s petition is found to include enough valid and unique signatures, then the proposed naming would be put to a vote in November, at the same time as other Americans are voting for their new president. Check out the original article here.
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Jul 10 2008
Street View Not Proceeding In The UK?
See this article for a more detailed explanation, but the short version is that Google’s Street View service will soon be available in Britain. The cars have already been out in some cities taking photos, however a small bump in the road has appeared, with objections to peoples’ faces being displayed without their express permission. Although this was not a problem in America, Canada and the UK have both stated that their laws do not allow for this sort of service; Google has offered to use automatic face-blurring technology, though this could lead to an overall degradation of all photos displayed. I use Google Earth quite a lot, and would have been interested in the way some towns would have looked, but I can also see why some people feel this is not a good thing to allow.
Jul 10 2008
Just Me Then?
Whilst sorting a few issues with other sites, I have been keeping an eye on other blogs, wondering if anyone else was going to post about issues with Izea’s PayPerPost and SocialSpark sites. Not a peep from anyone yet, and it is already 5pm, at least on the East coast of America. Perhaps the problem is somewhere in between, some random hardware amongst all the hops data make between here and there? I’ll give up for now, and check back in the morning.
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