This is essentially in response to Aaron Wall’s post about the next US President being bad marketers (Note that this is about US Presidential Candidates and their direct staff, not about those indirectly affiliated like in Ron Paul’s case).

1. Presidential Candidates and DC elites are technophobes or just plain technologically ignorant (series of tubes anyone?)
2. Those running for President have to study a lot about politics and really have no time to learn about new ways to market themselves.
3. Candidates being even closely aligned with marketing or advertising agencies could receive a lot of bad press (-5 million sinks).
4. Marketers and advertisers want to make money now, not give money back as tax cuts if their candidate wins.
5. Young people talk about voting, but in comparison to older age groups, never do (Sorry Ron Paul / Dean supporters, love to be proved wrong in the next election though).

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Bump and Update on 1/29/2007:

Please go here if you are looking for my thoughts on Life After People.

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What looks to be a fascinating TV special by the History Channel coming up on January 21st called “Life After People“:

The human species appeared on Earth about two million years ago and has been changing it ever since. What will Earth look like in the days, weeks, months, years and millennia after humans are gone? How long would it take for our edifices to crumble–all traces of us gone, to be replaced by primordial forests, wild boar, rare cranes in pristine marshes? The clues to the future are right here in the present but are illuminated when we look through the lens of history. Experts from all fields of science will paint the picture, and the destructions and resurrections will all be animated by the magic of George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic. (Genres: Science & Technology, Special)

Even David Brin is will be getting into it as he notes on Daily Kos:

Watch your favorite Brin put down his pundit thing on the History Channel (again) on January 21, in a docu-future bit called Life After People… a fun look at what could happen to our cities… and animals… if humanity suddenly disappeared.

Would like to put a note via an RSS feed or something, but its unfortunately too far out on the History Channel’s website at this point, but so it goes.

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Read the NYT’s article about the CIA torture tapes and weep for how America is falling.

Then read the post by Scott Horton and feel ashamed for what’s transpired.

I believe in the transparency of democracy and how evil men will be found out and punished (most of the time) for what has been done to sully America’s name, but I wonder how long and how will it happen (if at all).

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I don’t usually like to watch vlogs as I still rather prefer reading blogs in general, but there are exceptions, particularly the one at shoemoney bringing the point home about paid links in general is about not making Google look stupid.

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Thought this was worth a note to people:

The Jewish Americans is a three-night documentary that explores 350 years of Jewish American history. Written and directed by award-winning filmmaker David Grubin, The Jewish Americans is a story of great achievement despite great odds. From the First Settlement in the 17th century to the present, the six-hour series is a journey in time.

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For the most part, the libertarians I run across and are friends with are usually not very religious, so it struck me as rather odd to see a very libertarian candidate (Ron Paul) note that he does not accept evolution. Makes me wonder whether that could put a crimp in some of his supporters as libertarians are not necessarily the bunch who will not accept with so much factual basis behind it.

Personally, any candidate that is not willing to change one’s belief when the facts are right in front of you is certainly not a candidate for me to support. The commenter on Andrew Sullivan’s blog says it well:

A reader writes:

I too, wanted to pretend like I didn’t see that video of Ron Paul saying that he can’t accept Evolution.  I admire the man.  He is clearly the most legitimate GOP candidate.  But this has completely damaged my perception of him.  As an Athiest, I often find it absoultely mind-boggling that so many people in the United States, in this day and age, can still deny that Evolution is real.  But the truth is, while pretty much any person you meet who doesn’t believe in Evolution is doing so for religous reasons, it is important to note that this issue goes far deeper than just religion itself.  After all, the present day Vatican, and even Pope Benedict have a very sober stance towards Evolution.  So this to me, highlights why Paul’s denial of Evolution is such a big deal.

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Ian Walsh at Firedoglake has a quick and interesting post on possible parallels about in his opinion how the US is declining similar to four various ways as defined by his points. I don’t necessarily agree with him, but thought to point out the interesting ideas that he’s laid out there (and really for something as bold of a point as that, should go into far more detail).

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Since I am getting a decent amount of people coming to my blog searching on yu jiaoying, I thought it would be appropriate to help the people searching that if they are looking for my wife’s blog, please visit Yu Jiaoying own blog, Ivy in USA.

If you’re looking for someone else, can’t help you there, sorry.

因为不少人搜索 yu jiaoying 然后过来我英文的博克，我想帮助你们如果你们找找我老婆的博克: Ivy in USA。请你点这个: Yu Jiaoying.

如果你找找别人，我就不可以帮助你，不好意思。

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My SEO prediction on Google is now up as a guest post over at Google Search Sucks, generously posted by Mr. Google Sucks himself about the following topic:

[I]f you’re looking to understand why Google will ultimately fail as a search engine in trying to keep a large emphasis on link juice, then read on.

Just had to comment about it to point it out as I could not help but notice a few predictions by Alan at SEO Image on his 2008 SEO Predictions:

4. SEO
Search Engine Optimization will be a web industry standard. More and more inexperienced SEO people will become prominent figures in the industry and still think they know what it is they are doing, despite never handling a single site. - Go Figure.

[...]

9. Social Media Sites
Social sites and forums will gain a larger percentage of searches and cause other older communities to fear them or buy them.

10. Link Baiting
Controversial posts and editorials will be part of SEO campaigns for link bait (Not like this one).

Those are his good ones in my opinion as otherwise the rest are complete junk (or are not really predictions–SEO conspiracies!?) without some solid reasonings behind them.

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Metabetable at Mark’s China Blog posts some interesting examples of the literal meaning of some Chinese words:

Here are some of my favorite examples of what I’m talking about:
电脑
Chinese Pronunciation: dian nao
Literal Translation from Chinese to English: Electric brain
English meaning: Computer

[...]

同意
Chinese pronunciation: tong yi
Literal Translation from Chinese to English: Together meaning
English meaning: To agree

手机
Chinese pronunciation: shou ji
Literal Translation from Chinese to English: Hand machine
English meaning: Cellular phone

And I have to agree that those are definitely interesting ones, and before I suggest some other fascinating Chinese words, I have to correct his translation on this one:

老外
Chinese pronunciation: lao wai
Literal Translation from Chinese to English: Old outside
English meaning: Derogatory name for foreigners

老外 is not a derogatory name for foreigners, it is in fact the complete opposite! 老外 means respected foreigner (remember that calling someone old there is a respectful gesture). The actual derogatory name for foreigners can vary, but one is 鬼了 (literally: ghost) meaning foreign devil.

The ones I personally think are fascinating: (more…)

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