Sim-O

There’s lots of stats on the Messagespace site. So I’ve just spent the evening looking through the list of Messagespace advert publishers according to Messagespace, all 35 of them, looking for more stats.

Just out of curiosity, like.

And what did I find?

On the 35 publishers there were:

• 45 advert spaces
• 36 visible adverts for Messagespace.
• 1 publisher had 2 visible adverts served by Messagespace (advertising Messagespace) also had 10 other Messagespace codeblocks, but not showing ads on the page (I don’t know why, I didn’t look that closely)
• 3 publishers listed on the Messagespace site had no adverts showing or any Messagespace code in the source code
• the two magazines were advertising themselves
• erm. That’s about it

I’m not going to do any percentages cos it’s late and I can’t be arsed now, but 36 ads for the ad server on 35 publishers with 46 ad spaces. What is it? Some sort of ad world Ponzi scheme*? How many of these 800,000 users** are gonna need the services of an internet advertising network?

The raw data (.xls) (it doesn’t tell you anything I haven’t already)

*I’m not implying there is something illegal is being done, but all those bloggers advertising the ad agency that’s serving them ads? Where is all this money coming from?
**A bit of a contentious issue is figures

Thinking of putting ads on your blog? Thinking of using Messagespace?

Wait!

Do you really want to associate yourself with any of this stuff?

MPs’ expenses.
To paraphrase Frank Skinner…

You’re only sorry and think the system needs reforming because you got found out.

But looking at the responses, the one in the title seems to be the one they’ve all decided to run with, but it still sticks in the throat.

On Tuesday (5 May) George Monbiot publishes a rather good interview with Hazel Blears, accusing her of having rather flexible values and ideals with regard to her unflinching support of the Labour Party of over the last twelve years.

And as if by magic, between fiming and publishing Hazel has a piece critical of the government.

Whether she is positioning herself ready for a new leader, or even to try and nab the job herself, or just trying to prove George wrong, well, that depends on how cynical you are.

Update: I sent Grerge an email asking what the gap was between filiming and publishing. The reply I got said three weeks.

Ben Goldacre…

What happened when Portugal decriminalised all drugs?: go on, guess.

This did…

“Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success,” says Glenn Greenwald, an attorney, author and fluent Portuguese speaker, who conducted the research. “It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does.”

Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal’s drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.

The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%; drug use in older teens also declined. Lifetime heroin use among 16-to-18-year-olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8% (although there was a slight increase in marijuana use in that age group). New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003, and deaths related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half. In addition, the number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and money saved on enforcement allowed for increased funding of drug-free treatment as well.

Daily Mail…

The endless snacking could be a way of keeping hands busy. Or maybe food finally tastes good again.
But the real reason why people pile on the pounds after quitting smoking could lie in our DNA.
Scientists have identified a fat-burning gene that becomes more active when exposed to cigarette smoke.
The finding could help explain why slim smokers find their weight starts to balloon after the final cigarette is stubbed out. The scientists studied smokers who had an existing personalized medical weight loss program, which, they they didn’t follow regularly.

The reason people put on weight when they pack in the fags is because most people think that smoking is an appetite supressant. I do not know if it is or not, but most smokers will feed their addiction over having a snack.
When someone packs in smoking, they think they are hungrier more often and just nibble and snack on things because that feeling they get when they want a cigarette for the first couple of days, that barely perceptable feeling in the chest/stomach area, is the same as slight hunger pangs.

There may well be something in smoking that burns calories quicker, but if there is is doesn’t burn many, by the amount of overweight smokers about.

Stop the bigots – support Aberdeens gay minister.

Sign the petition.

It came through the email, but it’s probably from B3ta.

I haven’t seen the news much over the weekend so I don’t know what scandal has petered out or whos’ been caught doing who or what.

Apparently it’s James Purnell that’s been caught with his hand in the till.

The Welfare and Pensions Secretary has been claiming over two grand for his rent on a second home when it actually cost just under £1k.

I feel the same as The Devil about this…

I get tired of saying this, but this is plain, out-and-out fraud.

As the minister in charge of welfare benefits, Mr Purnell has spearheaded the Government’s crackdown on benefits cheats.

Many taxpayers will, therefore, be surprised to learn about the Minister’s own financial arrangements for claiming public money.

“Surprised”? “Outraged” might be a rather better word for it.

Nothing is going to change until some of these cunts are prosecuted for fraud: and, if found guilty, then they should be punished with the full weight of the law. If they are not, then it will be an explicit admission that these greedy fucks consider themselves above the law.

And that’s when the only road open to the taxpayers of Britain is the decoration of lamp-posts…

This is the sort of stuff the police should be investigating, not scaring people with life imprisonment for leaking embarassing government and party documents.

BBC…

My life is destroyed. I’m still living in hiding. I’ve asked to be taken anywhere in the world – away from here. There’s no justice in the world.
…
Ali (his name has been changed to protect him) had worked for British troops in Basra for almost 12 months. To be precise, for six days short of 12 months.

Miliband statement on Iraq 30th October 2007…

Staff who are currently serving in these categories, or who were doing so on or after 8 August 2007, will be eligible to apply for assistance provided that:

* they have attained 12 months’ or more continuous service. (In this context, continuous does not refer to service in a single job or capacity. Iraqi staff who have moved between the different categories outlined above will be eligible provided that there was no break in service between moving between different categories and total length of service is 12 months or more); and
* that they are (or were) redundant by their employer OR that they are (or were) forced to resign their positions because of what we judge to be exceptional circumstances. Decisions on whether a resignation has taken place in exceptional circumstances will be made by representatives of employing Departments on the ground. Staff who are dismissed for misconduct will not be eligible for assistance.

I suppose when death threats happen as often as they do in Iraq, they stop being exceptional and if you’ve only got a week or fortnight before you hit 12 months then you can tough it out. It’s only a few more days.

The employees are still being shat on and now the Brits are out, that’ll be then end of any help any Iraqi interpreters would’ve got.