Category Archives: media

gross spam

04 Friday May 2007

Posted by in media, rants, weird

≈ 3 Comments

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Is it just me?

Or has anyone else noticed that the spam being caught here by Akismet has been extra vile lately? I tend to zip through the spam list to check if a friend’s comment has been caught there by mistake. But wow – a lot of the titles and links I see are not only quite gross and disgusting but these sites are also promoting and promising stuff that is illegal in most countries.

Do you think they are for real? Makes me shudder to think about it.

Is there any way to officially complain about this shit?

my first blog anniversary!

01 Tuesday May 2007

Posted by in blogging, fun stuff, life stuff, media, miscellany

≈ 13 Comments

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It was a year ago today that casa az was born.

Previously my only experience with online forums and journals was on h2g2 , started by Douglas Adams and now run by the BBC. And perhaps if they hadn’t had a total ‘blackout’ on hootoo for about two days around the beginning of last May I wouldn’t have looked elsewhere. But I’d seen other friends starting up blogs and because I was already using WordPress as the content manager for my online clothing store I decided to go with them. Another bit of serendipity as all other blogsites I’ve tried out since (just out of curiosity) have shown themselves to be a lot less user friendly.

And so one year, 275 posts and almost 40,000 peeks later I am very happy that things turned out the way they did because my time here has been very special… interesting, enjoyable, at times thought-provoking & challenging, and with the extra added bonus of having met some fabulous new friends. I’m also very happy that several of my old h2g2 pals, and also some of my RL friends, have chosen to come and visit me here.

So thanks for having made this such a wonderful year
and I hope we’ll share many more together!

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secret? what secret?

26 Thursday Apr 2007

Posted by in books & writing, health & happiness, media, rants, video, weird

≈ 6 Comments

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Decoding ‘The Secret’

Oprah lives by it. Millions are reading it. The latest self-help sensation claims we can change our lives by thinking. But this ‘new thought’ may just be new marketing.

Reading some of the excerpts in the Newsweek article, you’d almost think it was a spoof book if not for the millions of copies sold and the public support of celebs like Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres and Nicole Kidman. Are people really so desperately needy and pathetically gullible? The mind reels …

You’d think the last thing Americans need is more excuses for self-absorption and acquisitiveness. But our inexhaustible appetite for “affirmation” and “inspiration” and “motivation” has finally outstripped the combined efforts of Wayne Dyer, Anthony Robbins, Dr. Phil and Mitch Albom. We have actually begun importing self-help—and from Australia, of all places, that citadel of tough-minded individualism…

buying the war

25 Wednesday Apr 2007

Posted by in media, politics

≈ 4 Comments

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Bill Moyers on PBS – Buying The War

This evening at 9pm PBS will be showing this 90-minute documentary, which looks well worth watching (you lucky North Americans!). But it also looks like it’s going to become available on Watch Again, as is the excellent Faith & Reason series, so I guess I’ll just have to be patient. . .

Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln and delivered a speech in front of a giant “Mission Accomplished” banner. Despite profound questions and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House’s claim that the war was won. How did they get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 continue to go largely unreported?

wtf?

24 Tuesday Apr 2007

Posted by in health & happiness, life stuff, media, politics, rants

≈ 5 Comments

toilet-paper.jpg Crow calls for limit on loo paper

In my opinion it’s ‘celebrity environmentalists’ like this who give a bad name to the whole global environmental movement that is seriously trying to make things better.

By making such an idiotic public statement and suggesting that this is a way to help us ‘save the planet’ only serves to possibly make others who have dedicated their lives to the preservation of our environment look like cranks.

Crow has also commented on her website about how she thinks paper napkins “represent the height of wastefulness”.

Which again only shows how uninformed this person is. Paper napkins are the height of wastefulness??? What fucking planet is she living on? One where she is always served with the finest of linen napkins I suppose.

The 45-year-old, who made the comments on her website, has just toured the US on a biodiesel-powered bus to raise awareness about climate change.

And no mention of the many flights she’s taken on both private and public jets to promote her music career? How, um … hypocritical?

I am very concerned about the environment and do as much as I feel I can by recycling as much as possible. But using one square of toilet paper per bathroom visit? How is that even practical? I’d just end up having to use the bidet more often and waste water.

Presumably Ms Crow neither menstruates nor ever gets the trots, and also has the ability to always pee straight down every time without ever splashing … gee, lucky her.   🙄