confession time

Dear Jeff Bozos It is 39 years and 7 months since my last confession. Back in 2001, I opened an Amazon Associates account, placed a link to a wonderful Oracle book I wanted to buy on my personal Web site, clicked through on the link and purchased the book from Amazon (UK). This abuse of the referral program credited my newly opened Amazon Associates account with the princely sum of 1.55 GBP. ...

December 22, 2005

issues arising

Doug Burns raises a surprising number of issues in a seemingly throwaway comment about music. I used to say I only have three passions in life ‘Music, Football and Girls. The only thing that changes is the order.’ :-) Stuff that is too personal to discuss in a blog. I am startled about certain stuff I have seen posted in blogs. Personal stuff that I would never dream of posting. Oracle versus Music versus Football. I started this blog after lurking on the Oracle blog community for a while and initially thought I would post occasional enlightening, technical articles which were met with worldwide acclaim. After a while, I realised, those posts would be few and far between. ...

December 21, 2005

detailed analysis of referer logs

Old news is like yesterday’s papers. No-one is interested. The chart of failed spammers is as good indicator of traffic to your blog as any. Old gems may totally get ignored depending on timing. I might have one avid reader. Lots of people are looking for information about ‘Dixons Tax Free Shopping’, ‘SonicStage 3.3’ (are you listening, Sony ?) and, oddly enough, ‘Paul Scholes + family’. Google is a popular but sub-optimal search engine for blogs as monthly archives may contain a wide variety of unrelated content (Roy Keane, Antibes, Blog, Chameleons, DAB) which will ultimately confuse people and waste time. ...

December 21, 2005

hostelries in West Bromwich

Days Inn Hotel. No restaurant service ‘because it is Christmas’. No cooked breakfast ‘because it is Christmas’. No Sky Sports which is normally available but has been withdrawn ‘because it is Christmas’. Boddingtons is available despite the proximity of ‘Christmas’ at a very reasonable 2.95 GBP for a pint. The Marksman hostelry, a mere half a mile away, but a little more earthy, has Sky Sports at every booth and on big screens and sells Stella Artois for 2.20 GBP per pint.

December 21, 2005

good news for WordPress users

The news is out. Yahoo! will be offering WordPress hosted blogs for small businesses and charging a monthly fee for the service. I think this is good news for all WordPress users (.com and .org) as it provides a revenue stream for future development.

December 21, 2005