Yes, Web Sites Need To Make Money But Stop With The Horrible Ads Already

Does on-line advertising make you want to do this?  

For another blog post, I was going to link to an article in the Arizona Republic newspaper

But I couldn't justify putting you, my dear readers, through all the hoops to read the article in question.  Let's just say I fail at Guantanamo style torture.

To see the Arizona Republic article, you first had to answer three survey questions about cars.

Then, the article would open up, but you immediately get an obnoxious autoplay ad. Then before you have a chance to finish reading the article, a pop up comes on, urging you on to another piece of work by the Arizona Republic.

Before you say that I'm expecting something for nothing, a free lunch, I think there SHOULD be advertising, or some sort of fee structure to pay to see articles.  See, I'm not a mooch.

The reporters at the Arizona Republic and pretty much every other online publication deserve to be paid a fair wage. The businesses they work for should have the opportunity to make a profit. If I benefit from reading an article some hard working journalist wrote, then I should pay for it.

Really, though. Publications have got to find a better way to make money. I know that's easier said than done, but what most of 'em are doing now ain't working.

Now, if I want to read a certain publication frequently, I could just subscribe. Just like buying magazines at a newsstand. But instead, I would just pay online for X dollars a month or whatever. No problem.

Like most people, though, I want to read a particular online sites only occasionally,  if I see they have a particularly interesting article.

A lot of them ask me to fill out a survey first. Like, are you going to buy a car this year? What kind? My paranoia goes skyward when I see these. Big Data will follow me, pestering me to buy a car. And it will just add to what I'm sure is an already immense marketing dossiere every ad agency has on me. And everybody else.

Everybody also hates auto play. If you want to attract eyeballs, annoying people is not the way to do it. I've asked this question over and over,  and never gotten an answer. The question is: How is it that advertisers think that if they annoy us, we will buy that product? I run to the hills instead.

Speaking of extreme irritation, how about those banner ads that follow you as you scroll through a web page?

With that thought, Surprise!!! Ad blockers are getting more and more popular.

Google, in its Chrome browser,  is starting to block ads that use Adobe's Flash. Apple is going to have software for iPhones and IPads that will let us install apps that block ads from popping up on their Safari browser.

People like me who whine about ads, and there are many of us, have a dirty little secret. We actually like ads. But only good, clever, interesting ads.

So why don't advertisers make more of these?  There certainly are creative people out there who can do this. When an ad appears that grabs me, I sit through it without clickiing on "skip" or just exiting out of the web site.

This seems to be a simple solution - just make compelling ads.

The Kim Davis Anti Gay Bigot Hypocricy Train Rolls On. Sigh.

The mug shot of jailed idiot Kentucky county
clerk has the right wing inflamed, and the rest
of us thinking about how tedious she and her friends are.

I know I've maybe written quite enough of Kim Davis, that idiot county clerk from Kentucky who decided to go to jail rather than issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.

I also know I won't change the minds of the people who inexplicably support her, but really, I'm one of zillions of people who MUST vent about her.

In the grand scheme of things, she's not all that important, but I still always worry when people hijack politics and policy in an attempt to force the nation to embrace their toxic "religion."

There are a lot of villians here besides Davis, that's for sure. It's amazing the creative ways find to justify this bigotry.

Some of this bigotry is just downright hilarious.  Rich Wiles, an End Times nutcase, suggested China and Russia might launch nuclear strikes against the United States in retaliation for jailing Davis and supporting the "Homosexual Gaystapo."

Um, right.

The most common trope I've seen is with the jailing of Davis, the government is rounding up Christians because of their beliefs. "The federal government has started to incarcerate Christians," Todd Starnes of Fox News breathlessly Tweeted.

No, the jailing of one person for failing to uphold the oath of an elected office after failing to follow orders of the court.

I'm being Captain Obvious here, but nobody is being jailed for their religious beliefs. Davis can say whatever she wants. And if we're rounding up Christians for proclaiming their beliefs, then why isn't Davis' fourth husband in jail as he has been very publicly supporting her beliefs.

Because the First Amendment is still solidly in place, that's why.

We'd better hope presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is never elected, as he obviously wants to turn this nation into a theocracy. Here's his Tweet: "Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubts about the criminalization of Christianuty in this country."

Presidential candidate Ted Cruz basically said the same thing. And on the bright side, Huckabee's planned "Free Kim Davis" rally next week at the jail she's being held at ought to be a hoot

So it's OK for the government to deny services to the public because of the government official's religion?

Of course, the goverment was giving Davis some religious accommodation. She could have stepped aside and let a deputy issue marriage licenses, but she would not let anybody in her office do that.

Says German Lopez at Vox:

"So when people like Huckabee and Cruz come to Davis's defense, they're not standing for religious liberties They're advocating for someone's ability to use her role as a government official to impose her religion on others, including people on her own staff in a way that discriminates against same sex couples. If that doesn't violate the separation of church and state enshrined in the Constitution, I'm not sure what does."

Huckabee and his ilk are just rewriting history. If you don't like the facts, change the "facts" to suit your ideology.

For instance, faux historian and evangelical David Barton said the Founding Fathers "made it real clear that the laws of God are higher than the laws of man."

So that whole separation of church and state thing was just put in there as a joke then?

Some people are comparing Davis to civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

One insightful, sarcastic Tweet I saw written by Kip Manley puts that idea to shame. "Kim Davis is the bus driver, unjustly prevented from being able to force Rosa Parks to sit in the back."

The hypocricy among the Davis crowd is something else. One classic example was cited by the JoeMyGod blog yesterday. A flight attendant who is a recent convert to Islam is suing because her newfound religious fervor makes it a moral issue to serve alcohol to people on planes.

Over at the very conservative site Brietbart, Pam Geller is having none of it, asking why the Muslim would want to be a flight attendant in the first place if it involves serving alcohol. And what about the right of passengers to be served alcohol, which is completely legal in the United States. And the flight attendant is asking for special rights, which is unfair, Geller said.

All possibly valid points, really. So why doesn't it apply to Davis?

As Joe Jervis of JoeMyGod writes:

"Brand new religious fervor? Check. Won't do the job she was hired for? Check. Demand for special exemption? Check. Public denied totally legal service? Check. But hey - this time it's not a godly white Christian woman, therefore very suddenly (and only-this-one-time-plus-for-all-other Muslims) separation of church and state is an actual THING."

All these threats to civil and religious liberties that Davis thinks she is "protecting" is reason to worry, of course. We need to counter their silly arguments even as we know we won't convince people like Davis, Huckabee and the Right Wing Nut Brigade.

Still, we need to laugh, too.

To celebrate our contempt for Davis, here's a nice ditty Sandy and Richard Riccardi wrote and posted about her, called "Shut Up And Do Your Motherfucking Job"

As you can tell by the title, there is some NSFW language in here, but it is FUN!
Watch:

Leave Megan Kelly Alone Even If You Don't Like Megyn Kelly

If Trump supporter want to criticize Megyn Kelly of Fox
News, fine. Just leave Megan Kelly, 24, of Pittsburgh alone  

There's a woman named Megan Kelly who I'm sure you've never heard of. She's 24 years old, and a project manager for a marketing company in Pittsburgh.

Sounds fine, but she ain't famous.

However: This is a public service announcement to all you Donald Trump fans who don't like Megyn Kelly.

Megyn Kelly, the Fox News host, pissed off Trump and his supporters weeks ago when she asked some Trump blunt questions during the Republican debate. Trump is still going after Megyn Kelly over that, and so are his supporters.

Which brings us back to Megan Kelly, the Pittsburgh project manager. She's been getting a TON of nasty emails from Trump supporters. They're apparently confusing Megan with Megyn, says Gawker. 

Stop it!  I don't know what Megan Kelly's opinion of Trump is, but it's surely spiraling downhill now that she's getting all those mistaken nastygrams from the Trump contingent.

Gawker notes that it's hard to understand how the Trump crowd got Pittsburgh Megan Kelly's email address anyway. It's not obvious, so logical guesses probably didn't work. But then again, many of Trump's supporters aren't particularly logical.

Also, Gawker points out the obvious. It's very easy to Google Megyn Kelly the Fox News person, and obtain the correct spelling of her name. It would also be easy through Google to obtain  her email address.

But a hallmark of Trump and many of his supporters is unfocused rage, so why focus their anger on the right person? When any Megan Kelly would do.

Crazy Ants Revolve Around A Ringing iPhone

Who knew? A ringing phone makes ants weird

It kinda drives me crazy when I'm in the middle of something and the phone rings.

That seems to be true for ants, too. Watch the video below of ants milling around an iPhone, and watch what they do when the phone rings. Totally weird!

According to 7News in Australia:

"'It's an unavoidable consequence of their communication systems,' said biologist Simon Robson, a social insect specialist at James Cook University. 'Having the ants together like that, the shape of the phone may have something to do with it and the vibration might get them a bit more excited, but a lot of ants will do it even without the phone.'"

Still, this is pretty cool. Watch:

Fired Law Professor And Jerk Says U.S. ISIS Policy Critics Are Treasonous. Ugh.

William Bradford thinks people who criticize
the War on Terror or military actions
are guilty of treason. So much for the 1st Amendment

West Point law professor William Bradford is now a former West Point law professor.

He was found to have exaggerated his academic achievements.

But that's not what's really infuriating about Bradford.  I don't know bow a scary guy like this got into the position of teaching law to West Point cadets.

Here's the deal: Basically, he's saying anyone who criticizes U.S. policy toward ISIS is treasonous.

According to The Atlantic, academic scholars who disagree with Bradford's views on the terrible terrorist group ought to be arrested because they are somehow aiding and abetting the terrorists.

It's not that the professors Bradford targets like ISIS. They hate those awful people, like most of us do. They just don't completely agree with all of the "war on terror" policies the United States has had in the past decade or so.

Bradford's language as to how these scholars are guilty of treason are straight out the McCarthy Red Scare tactics of the 1950s. The supposed pro-ISIS scholars, who are anything but, are guilty of "professional socialization, pernicious pacifism and cosmopolitanism."

So apparently it's treason for these professors to socialize with each other, call for peace and tend not to be particularly nationalistic.

Bradford calls the academics he opposes the "fifth column." The Atlantic says Bradford actually believes the scholars should be treated as "unlawful enemy combatants" which would theoretically open them, the schools they work at, their homes, and even  journalists who quote them to a military attack.

Well, then. There goes the First Amendment! And let's combat ISIS by becoming as militaristic, fundamentalist and lacking in human rights as they are! That'll teach 'em!

Luckily, Bradford is out of West Point now, and presumably there are more sane law professors teaching our fine young men and women there.

However, as The Atlantic puts it: 

"But it leaves unanswered the question of how he got hired there in the first place, given his checkered past and allegedly exaggerated credentials. And it also fails to explain how a scholar pushing these ideas seems not to have raised red flags any earlier."

Indeed!

Josh Daniels Finally Brings Simon Cowell To His Emotional Limit On X-Factor

On X-Factor Josh Daniels,  left, turned in such
a good audition that he made Simon Cowell cry.  

I usually don't watch the singing talent/reality show X-Factor, but one contestant caused a HUGE stir this week with his audition.

The most telling reaction was a silent one from the show's longtime curmudgeon Simon Cowell.

Josh Daniels, 21 performed the song "Jealous" by Labrinth. He reinterpreted the lyrics to sing about the jealousy he has that his best friend, who died a couple years ago, is happy in heaven and left Josh here on earth.

Daniels' performance was breathtaking, and he more than deserved the vote to move on to the next round.

Simon Cowell, for once, was speechless, and overcome with emotion. His mother recently died, so that was surely a factor.

Any singer like Daniels who can move an audience for any reason deserves success. See for yourself with this clip:

Gorilla And Toddler Have Fun Together

A toddler and a baby gorilla have a fun day with
each other recently at an Ohio zoo.  

This viral video has been on a lot of the news sites, but I can't resist putting it here, too.

It shows a baby gorilla playing hide and seek with a toddler.

The gorilla is on one side of a glass enclosure, the kid is on the other side.  This was at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio.

But they form a nice, quick bond, proving that all kids love playtimes. The video will make you smile.

Watch: