Do you expect Stanford’s student newspaper to spam Google? This is very disappointing.

It’s hard to vocalize how absolutely disgusted I am, and on how many levels. First of all, the dozens of links that pad the side and (especially) the bottom of every Daily article do not constitute mere “advertising,” despite what it says on the label. Nobody is expected to click on these links. The links are intended to boost each page’s ranking in search engines like Google that place a high premium on inbound links from credible sources. It’s hard to get more credible than stanford.edu. Which brings me to the second reason this is disgusting: that Stanford, of all places, is being used to game Google. (I realize Stanford itself doesn’t condone this, which makes it all the more frustrating that the Daily is leeching off its clout toward these ends.)

Good friend (and fellow former Abuzz’er) Jay Brewer lets us in on his next career move.

I started to realize that blogs focused on certain product niches and categories might just work and work well and most of all – be fun. I decided then to start to look for more topics I could write on and to get other people to write on topics they were passionate about. Blogpire Productions was born.

I’m so jealous. Maybe I’ll actually do something with entrepreneursdiary.com and daddybloggers.com.

The ice cream man came down my street today. If I weren’t in the middle of a conference call at the time, I would have leapt down the stairs and got myself a cone.

I know I’m in suburbia now…

Why activists are better marketers

Blogging the upfronts
A New York Times writer blogs the annual TV “upfronts”

More of the world’s dumbest criminals

The Working Podcast
Audio blog about interesting work topics.

Security expert Bruce Schneier gives reasons why the recently passed REAL ID law will not increase our security.

REAL ID doesn’t go into effect until three years after it becomes law, but I expect things to be much worse by then. One of my fears is that this new uniform driver’s license will bring a new level of “show me your papers” checks by the government. Already you can’t fly without an ID, even though no one has ever explained how that ID check makes airplane terrorism any harder. I have previously written about Secure Flight, another lousy security system that tries to match airline passengers against terrorist watch lists. I’ve already heard rumblings about requiring states to check identities against “government databases” before issuing driver’s licenses. I’m sure Secure Flight will be used for cruise ships, trains, and possibly even subways. Combine REAL ID with Secure Flight and you have an unprecedented system for broad surveillance of the population.
Is there anyone who would feel safer under this kind of police state?

PosterWire
This is a really smart and interesting weblog covering movie poster art.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe trailer
I’m pretty excited about this movie. I loved these books when I was a kid, and I’ve given the books as gifts countless times.

The Yankees are self-destructing. How much fun is that? They’ve found that $215,000,000 won’t necessarily buy your way out of last place. Ha ha ha.

When the Yankees are losing, I indulge my schadenfreude by reading the New York tabloids. Today’s Post has a couple of fun reads, starting with an analysis of why they’ve gone downhill

The ramifications have hit the Yankees at once, like a perfect storm, leaving their roster old, overpaid, inflexible and with few prospects to address the difficulties through promotion or trades. This is an old, brittle team that should only become more brittle with time.

2005 mirrors 1965, the first year of a 12-year drought.

Bobby Richardson had a sense that the ’65 team was nearing the end and it wasn’t just because of age and injury. The Yankees had been to the World Series 14 of the previous 16 seasons. There were subtle signs that this mid-’60s team had become a little selfish. That showed itself in the delving out of World Series shares. The Yankees, throughout Richardson’s career, had always taken care of young players and clubhouse attendants and the like, but the 1964 the team was not as generous as a new generation of players came into power.

Between the business, the house, the move and the pregnancy, I haven’t been able to find a 15-minute block in which to write a simple posting. And the longer I’ve stayed away, the harder it is to start up again. It’s time to go back to writing every day.

I’m finding getting back into the writing habit even harder than trying to get back to exercising regularly (which I’ve been able to do the last couple of weeks). I’m just creaking along. Creak. Creak.

So, things have been a little busy recently. We have moved into the new house, and now, we have a baby on the way. We’re due in early November.

Woo Hoo!

Someday I’ll have a nice comfortable rut again. Someday.