hey there, Internet Corporation Listing Service - where do i rank in all the search engines when ya do a search for my website on the net?
going through the bills i got in the mail, i open one from ICLS.net...right up at the top, there's my domain name, a Customer Number, etc...
at the bottom, there's a tear-off section, says make checks payable to:... - they want $35 from me.
now waitaminute here - i'm definitely NOT a web geek by ANY stretch of the imagination, but didn't i just register that domain in june, and wasn't it more like ten bucks instead of thirty-five?
the letter says "Description of services: annual website search engine listing from jan 1, 2004 thru jan 1, 2005 -- $35.00"
what's that $35 get me? "domain name submission to 14 major search engines, eight keyword/phrase listings, quarterly search engine position and ranking reports." - hmmm, sounds like they tell the search engines "hey, lori's website's over there", do some of the stuff i get from SiteMeter.com for FREE and make $35.00.
i wouldn't be pissed if it didn't look so much like a bill - i had to read halfway down, past the sales pitch but a bit above the tear-off portion of the not-a-bill to read "this is not a bill. this is a solicitation. you are under no obligation to pay the amount state above unless you accept this offer."
i just wonder how much money these evil scammy bastards have made from people not too web-literate thinking they have to pay a bill to keep their domain. a customer number? totally made up, i've never been a customer of theirs. "please remit payment on or before december 15, 2003"? makes it look more like a bill. "all listings are final"? - yeah, then they can fall back on that when you realize you were scammed and they took $35 from you for shit that's basically worthless.
Friday, November 14, 2003
World Diabetes Day
hmmm...today is World Diabetes Day...perhaps i'll go to Dairy Queen to celebrate! ha ha, just kidding of course...
speaking of books....
just finished up Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore. my review? overall, a good read, but a bit uneven - sorry, the chapter where mike leaves the computer and God takes over to write a chapter? it just didn't work. but there were some things of interest there...
a few quotes:
"They call it a war on 'terror.'" How exactly do you conduct a war on a noun? Wars are fought against countries, religions, and peoples. They are not fought against nouns or problems, and any time it has been attempted -- the 'war on drugs,' the 'war on poverty' -- it fails." - Dude, Where's My Country?, pg 96
"Look, I don't know how to put it any gentler than to say that these bastards who run our country are a bunch of conniving, thieving, smug pricks who need to be brought down and removed and replaced with a whole new system that we control. That is what democracy is supposed to be about -- we, the people, in fucking charge. What happened to us? Perhaps we were never were really in charge and those words just sounded good at Independence Hall on that sweltering day in 1776. Maybe if the Founding Fathers had air conditioning and a corporate jet they never would have written such a foolish thing. But they did, and that's what we're left to work with." - Dude, Where's My Country?, ppg 148-9
"But Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines the word liberal this way: 'Not narrow or contracted in mind; not selfish' and 'not bound by orthodox tenets or established forms in political or religious philosophy; independent in opinion; not conservative; friendly to great freedom in the institution or administration of government....' Liberal is also defined as generous, 'and implies largeness of spirit in giving, judging, acting, etc.'
And that is exactly how the majority of Americans think, act, and behave these days. Though they won't use the word itself, they are the living, breathing definition of liberal in their everyday words and deeds. Just as most independent, free-thinking women rarely use the word 'feminist' anymore; their actions speak louder than their lack of a lable, and feminist is exactly what they are.
So let's not get hung up on the terms. Most Americans don't approach the world with labels, but with common sense." - Dude, Where's My Country?, pg 179
there's also followup stuff on his website -
Run Oprah Run! - yup, Mike, i agree - it's time for a black woman to be president - and who doesn't love oprah? no money issues there, she's got plenty of her own. and we know she's good at saying what she thinks.
Send your receipts to Ashcroft - the so called USA PATRIOT Act means the damned bastard's spying on us enough as it is, let's just cut out the middleman and send him our receipts from book purchases so he can decide whether or not we're too subversive for his liking.
Also on that page are some rather humorous/scary form letters you can send to John - for instance:
Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:
Thought I'd do my part and let you know that I've switched internet service providers (AOL really sucks) and now I'm with (insert name). My new password is (insert). Some of the websites I've been visiting recently are (insert).
Helpfully yours,
Your Name here
they're humorous because you read em and say "there's no way he'd do something like that, invading our privacy in such a way!" and scary because you read em and say "hell yes, he'd do something like that!"
a few quotes:
"They call it a war on 'terror.'" How exactly do you conduct a war on a noun? Wars are fought against countries, religions, and peoples. They are not fought against nouns or problems, and any time it has been attempted -- the 'war on drugs,' the 'war on poverty' -- it fails." - Dude, Where's My Country?, pg 96
"Look, I don't know how to put it any gentler than to say that these bastards who run our country are a bunch of conniving, thieving, smug pricks who need to be brought down and removed and replaced with a whole new system that we control. That is what democracy is supposed to be about -- we, the people, in fucking charge. What happened to us? Perhaps we were never were really in charge and those words just sounded good at Independence Hall on that sweltering day in 1776. Maybe if the Founding Fathers had air conditioning and a corporate jet they never would have written such a foolish thing. But they did, and that's what we're left to work with." - Dude, Where's My Country?, ppg 148-9
"But Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines the word liberal this way: 'Not narrow or contracted in mind; not selfish' and 'not bound by orthodox tenets or established forms in political or religious philosophy; independent in opinion; not conservative; friendly to great freedom in the institution or administration of government....' Liberal is also defined as generous, 'and implies largeness of spirit in giving, judging, acting, etc.'
And that is exactly how the majority of Americans think, act, and behave these days. Though they won't use the word itself, they are the living, breathing definition of liberal in their everyday words and deeds. Just as most independent, free-thinking women rarely use the word 'feminist' anymore; their actions speak louder than their lack of a lable, and feminist is exactly what they are.
So let's not get hung up on the terms. Most Americans don't approach the world with labels, but with common sense." - Dude, Where's My Country?, pg 179
there's also followup stuff on his website -
Run Oprah Run! - yup, Mike, i agree - it's time for a black woman to be president - and who doesn't love oprah? no money issues there, she's got plenty of her own. and we know she's good at saying what she thinks.
Send your receipts to Ashcroft - the so called USA PATRIOT Act means the damned bastard's spying on us enough as it is, let's just cut out the middleman and send him our receipts from book purchases so he can decide whether or not we're too subversive for his liking.
Also on that page are some rather humorous/scary form letters you can send to John - for instance:
Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:
Thought I'd do my part and let you know that I've switched internet service providers (AOL really sucks) and now I'm with (insert name). My new password is (insert). Some of the websites I've been visiting recently are (insert).
Helpfully yours,
Your Name here
they're humorous because you read em and say "there's no way he'd do something like that, invading our privacy in such a way!" and scary because you read em and say "hell yes, he'd do something like that!"
oh dear...Amazon, ya have it all wrong...
so...i'm a poor chick that likes to read - i'm a member of QPB's book club, and they have some very interesting books...so, i have this tendency to go through their catalog and then check out those books from the library...
it was in this way that i had stumbled across Skin Flutes and Velvet Gloves: A Collection of Facts and Fancies, Legends and Oddities About the Body's Private Parts - a very interesting read. interesting enough that when i saw it available on amazon from a 3rd party seller, i bought two copies - one for myself, one for my friend greg - he really likes penises and stuff. *8-)
so anyhoo....i just logged in at amazon, and now they're recommending me all these books about penises! eeeeeek! thanks for thinking of me, Amazon, but i think A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis is gonna be pretty far down on my list of books to purchase. read it? perhaps...checking the database, i see that the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library system has 6 copies of it...but even if it's free, it's still pretty far down on the list of books to read...
it was in this way that i had stumbled across Skin Flutes and Velvet Gloves: A Collection of Facts and Fancies, Legends and Oddities About the Body's Private Parts - a very interesting read. interesting enough that when i saw it available on amazon from a 3rd party seller, i bought two copies - one for myself, one for my friend greg - he really likes penises and stuff. *8-)
so anyhoo....i just logged in at amazon, and now they're recommending me all these books about penises! eeeeeek! thanks for thinking of me, Amazon, but i think A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis is gonna be pretty far down on my list of books to purchase. read it? perhaps...checking the database, i see that the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library system has 6 copies of it...but even if it's free, it's still pretty far down on the list of books to read...
Will the Pez Lez overtake the Pillsbury Dough Dyke?
yesterday i was out shopping and got a Wonder Woman Pez dispenser - whoo hoo! now i just gotta find the Lesbo Cop and then i'll have all three that i put on the Pez Lez shirt: Peppermint Patty, Wonder Woman and Lesbo Cop (er, i guess her official Pez title is Emergency Heroes: Policewoman, but we all know...lift up that little plastic head, and you can tell she's a dyke through and through!)
hrmm, will this be a smaller, more portable addiction than my pillsbury doughboy collection? i've been pondering selling stuff off from it...*shrug* i just dunno what to do...part of me says to hold off til the economy gets better and people have more cash to spend on frivolous crap like this, another part of me says - hey, i need the money NOW...
hrmm, will this be a smaller, more portable addiction than my pillsbury doughboy collection? i've been pondering selling stuff off from it...*shrug* i just dunno what to do...part of me says to hold off til the economy gets better and people have more cash to spend on frivolous crap like this, another part of me says - hey, i need the money NOW...
tres strange...
getting ready for the afternoon appointment with the therapist, printing up my blog (not this one, the one you don't know about *8-P) and peeked in to see what i was blogging about a year ago - kinda weird, the stuff i was pissing and moaning about in therapy a year ago is the same stuff i'm pissing and moaning about now...
Monday, November 10, 2003
encouraging me to be evil...
steph mentioned in her blog that i should check out the Church Sign Generator - cute, but doing it in person is much more fulfilling. *8-)
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