EckerNet.Com

OK, I had planned a big well thought out post regarding St. Cloud State University’s propaganda for countering racism.

However, after reading through it….well I’m at a complete loss of words. And those that know me know how strange that is.

I’m not even sure where to start or how to approach it. How do you address something that is so….well, I’m not even sure there is a word to describe it. Wacko will have to do for now.

Apparently no matter how enlightened I am….as a white man, I will forever be a racist. And no matter how prejudiced a minority is towards me…he can never be racist.

Amazing how that works.

[Hat Tip to SCSU Scholars for pointing this story out]

Craig “Fishsticks” Westover points out a great article on The State of Blogging by the Pew Research Center. Basically the premise of the article is that while blog creation is increasing at a rate of 6-7%, blog readership is increasing at a rate of 26-27%.

What does that mean for us bloggers?!?! Sweet Sweet Traffic.

Actually Fishsticks words it better as:

What I take that to mean is that the days are coming to an end when one builds traffic and garners one’s readership primarily from other bloggers through “promiscuous linking.” The blogosphere is no longer simply a community of shared interest in blogging. It’s developing a real constituency, and in (gasp) mainstream media terms, its share of the information-seeking market is going to be primarily non-bloggers.

One can’t draw those people in to the festivities unless one occasionally glances over and approaches that lost-looking guy contemplating the cheese tray and takes him around for introductions. Our your posts “non-user” friendly?

Now I agree with this and disagree with this for almost the same reasons.

Previously our readers were primarily other bloggers…yes. However, I think our road to larger traffic is still other bloggers to an extent. How does one find a particular blog? Links. How does one normally get links? Impressing other bloggers well enough that they cite your posts or drop you a link. While our primary readership may now be non-bloggers, the path to their hearts are still bloggers.

And regarding the content and approach of our posts being “non-user” friendly. Yes posting only inside jokes is obviously not going to score with new readers. But how often do we do that? And what does the study tell us? Readership is….anyone?….anyone??….increasing. If the blogosphere habitual link-whoring and circular back-patting were turning readers off, would more be flooding the scene?

Consider it this way….if the viewership of FoxNews or audience of Rush Limbaugh was increasing at a rate of 25%+, would someone declare a change of format is needed?? No, obviously what is being done is working, just keep it fresh.

That said I think there are still words of wisdom in Fishsticks post. Perhaps our audience does not have zeal for political discourse that a blogger may and therefore the patience/interest to stick with a long post. But maybe they do…they just don’t have the time or inclination to blog. Maybe they read your blog because that is what they want.

Certainly, yes we must understand who our readership is. Just who are we preaching to?? What is their taste in pajamas?? Do they mind if we move out of our parent’s basements??? Would the be mad at us if we learned journalistic ethics and adhered to them??

Something to think about.

A friend of mine emailed me a request today. He for some reason was under the impression that Tim Robbins flicked off Chris Rock last night. He was hoping I could use my Internet skillz and find a picture of the event since the MSM would obviously not cover it.

LOL, and no….I didn’t even have to train my friends to distrust the MSM. That belief came pre-assembled.

Now I’ve looked and looked and looked in my usual haunts. No luck. I did find this quote which probably would have sparked such an event:

“when our next presenter is not dazzling us with his acting ability, he’s boring us to death with his politics. please welcome Academy Award winner Tim Robbins”

But by all accounts Tim Robbins was well behaved and no shenanigans took place…..by Robbins.

So I’m inclined to believe the following
1) My friend was drunk….really drunk.
2) Since my friend and his wife had a baby recently, he’s short on sleep and delusional.

And since he emailed me while at work, I’m guessing it’s probably option 1…..he normally gets plenty of sleep while at work.

However, if you have heard of this event and can confirm it please leave me a comment or email me. OR if you have a pic of said event, please email me or tell me where it can be found.

Three men were standing in line to get into heaven one day. Apparently it had been a pretty busy day, though, so Peter had to tell the first one, “Heaven’s getting pretty close to full today, and I’ve been asked to admit only people who have had particularly horrible deaths.So what’s your story?”

So the first man replies: “Well, for a while I’ve suspected my wife has been cheating on me, so today I came home early to try to catch her red-handed.As I came into my 25th floor apartment, I could tell something was wrong, but all my searching around didn’t reveal where this other guy could have been hiding. Finally, I went out to the balcony, and sure enough, there was this man hanging off the railing, 25 floors above ground! By now I was really mad, so I started beating on him and kicking him, but wouldn’t you know it, he wouldn’t fall off. So finally I went back into my apartment and got a hammer and starting hammering on his fingers. Of course, he couldn’t stand that for long, so he let go and fell — but even after 25 stories, he fell into the bushes, stunned but okay. I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I ran into the kitchen, grabbed the fridge and threw it over the edge where it landed on him, killing him instantly. But all the stress and anger got to me, and I had a heart attack and died there on the balcony.”

“That sounds like a pretty bad day to me,” said Peter, and let the man in.

The second man comes up and Peter explains to him about heaven being full, and again asks for his story.

“It’s been a very strange day. You see, I live on the 26th floor of my apartment building, and every morning I do my exercises out on my balcony. Well, this morning I must have slipped or something, because I fell over the edge. But I got lucky, and caught the railing of the balcony on the floor below me. I knew I couldn’t hang on for very long, when suddenly this man burst out onto the balcony. I thought for sure I was saved, when he started beating on me and kicking me. I held on the best I could until he ran into the apartment and grabbed a hammer and started pounding on my hands. Finally I just let go, but again I got lucky and fell into the bushes below, stunned but all right. Just when I was thinking I was going to be okay, this refrigerator comes falling out of the sky and crushes me instantly, and now I’m here.”

Once again, Peter had to concede that that sounded like a pretty horrible death.

The third man came to the front of the line, and again the whole process was repeated. Peter explained that heaven was full and asked for his story.

“Picture this,” says the third man, “I’m hiding naked inside a refrigerator…”

It amazes me how the world can call the US a bully and a war-hungry tyrant when we put up with this BS.

One one hand, Syria pretends to be reponsible and hands over Saddam’s half-brother, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan.

And on the other hand still supports groups that continue suicide bombings with Israel and the Palestinians are making progress towards real peace.

If the US were really as bad as everyone says we wouldn’t put up with this sitting on the fence crap. Rather we would have bombed the hell outta them, ended Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad and gotten Hassan for ourselves.

Instead, we continue to tolerate this spoiled toddler masquerading as a nation.

Canada has decided not to sign onto the United States controversial missile defense program and has warned the US not to intrude upon Canadian airspace. The US has expressed the diplomatic equivalent of “Go F yourself. We’re gonna do it anyway”.

Not I’m not going to debate the sheer naivety of the stated Candian position that we must spend the valuable time to consult with them before launching a missle over their airspace to intercept a missle aimed at millions of Canadians citizens.

And I’m not going to discuss the idiocy of not participating in the program in general. I understand this decision was made for political reasons. I understand it and from a political position it makes sense.

My real problem isn’t even that fact that even though they aren’t participating in the program, we would defend them anyway. If anyone invaded Canada, we would go to their defense regardless of anything else.

My problem is that they know this. And they take advantage of us because of it.

The US taxpayers have been indirectly subsidizing the Candian welfare state for years. They don’t provide themselves a military because they know all they have to do is wimper and the US will be at their side ready to make the bad good again. We provide them a military so they don’t have to spend taxdollars on one. Rather they can spend their money on their failed socialist system.

What do we get for this??

Appreciation? No.

Respect? No.

Support? No.

Is there anything we can do about it? No.

*sigh*

A couple were going out for the evening. They’d gotten ready, all dolled up, dog put out, etc. The taxi arrives, and as the couple start out, the dog shoots back in the house. They don’t want the dog shut in the house, so the wife goes out to the taxi while the husband goes upstairs to chase the dog out.

The wife, not wanting it known that the house will be empty explains to the taxi driver:”He’s just going upstairs to say good-bye to my mother.”A few minutes later, the husband gets into the cab.

“Sorry I took so long” he says. “Stupid bitch was hiding under the bed and I had to poke her with a coat hanger to get her to come out! Then I had to wrap her in a blanket to keep her from scratching and biting me as I hauled her ass downstairs and tossed her in the back yard! She better not shit in the vegetable garden again either!”

Here’s variety of items I felt were worth linking to for various reasons:

• John Hawkins of Right Wing News is now a full time blogger. Apparently his company has laid him off. For him, it’s a bum deal. For us, it’s great (Sorry John!) because now he gets to write columns full time. Best of luck John!!
• Macroni Penguin has a lovely fix to our Social Security/Welfare problems. Part of the problem would be getting those free-loaders a job however. I can’t imagine that distorting the truth and wasting taxpayer money makes for a very good resume.
• Gary from To-Be-Determined vs Kennedy and First Ringer tag along with the Mark Kennedy compaign here, here and here. 
• The Barking Moonbat has posted a Photo Dictionary for all those loony leftists out there. Maybe it’ll help them learn the definitions of words if they can see it in pictures. 
• A vendor at Rutgers University was forced to change the name of his sandwiches because someone might feel uncomfortable because of their names. Here’s a tip….life is frequently uncomfortable…..life is frequently hell. I suggest you get used to being uncomfortable occasionally to get used to it. If you can’t, here’s a novel idea….don’t buy a fucking sandwich from that vendor!!!

…okay and I’m feeling guilty about the traffic spike I’m receiving today due to the link from IMAO

However, I’m a bit busy and have been unable to come up to post anything that could truly prepare you for what I have here.

First of all, I’m trying to go through a checklist to prepare for the arrival of my puppy.

Secondly, my favorite non-professional hockey team, the SCSU Huskies are playing their arch-rivals the UofM Gophers this weekend. In my world, that’s the closest I get to an official EckerNet holiday. True Official EckerNet holidays include my many hunting trips and trips to the shooting range.

So may I suggest one of my better posts, My Personals Ad. Or at least people seemed to rather enjoy it. And if you know of anyone matching this description let me know.

Also I’d like to remind you have an opening at EckerNet.

And if you want to know why I woke up rather late and thereby missed most of this traffic spike, feel free to read about my adventures meeting many local bloggers last night at Keegans. Good times. It will become a regular event for me.

I apologize and hopefully will have more for you tomorrow.

Last night I attended the festivities at Keegans. And came away feeling like my head was spinning….and I don’t think it had anything to do with all the Guinness I drank.

I had no idea what any of these bloggers look like. None of them had pictures posted on their sites…or at least it isn’t obviously posted.

WARNING: I will miss names here. I know I will. I’m bad enough with names as it is. And tonite I met probably two dozen bloggers all with three names….their blog name, their blogging name and their real name. *sigh* So many names

So I walked into the bar and looked around for the table that had a bunch of computer nerds sitting at it. None to be seen. Odd.
(more…)