P-LEASE!

A storm in a tea cup beaten up to be the leading news story. Lets see: Channel Ten new Kate had suffered from a still birth, but she’d CLEARLY told them it was in the past, and that she was over it. Big Brother re-runs a housemate task from the first series, caring for a (plastic) baby. Kate goes mental, BB withdraws the task (the right decision). Now it’s a sadistic ratings grab? We don’t have a News Corp tabloid in WA, but if we did I’d stop buying it, and I’m sick and tired of this rubbish at News.com.au as well. Thank god for the Sydney Morning Herald as the quality alternative.

I’ve starting getting strange emails from people saying how much they love my site and can I look at their Web 2.0 project, probably something to do my new gig at TechCrunch, and not my position in the Top 10 Australian blogs, sorry Meg.

I’m happy for people to email me, but lets drop the pretence that you love duncanriley.com when you’ve probably never visited the site. Email is nichenet @ gmail .com. For those who are wondering what “nichenet” is, try an ASIC company search for Nichenet Pty Ltd. Also, I’m told that I can be a lazy prick (well at least she who must be obeyed thinks so) so if you’re sending me an email saying “look at my site” I probably won’t. The more info the better. Zero promises, but I’m always open to new sites, concepts and insider gossip on funding etc…

In the mean time though probably expect a little less activity @ duncanriley.com, I’ve got a new focus, at least for the time being, something that given a little time will come naturally but for now means head down, bum up in terms of focus. What’s the saying “normal programming will resume….”.

Not many Australians would have been following this, but I’ve been watching for a while now, for those who have missed it, Fred Thompson, best known to Australians as the District Attorney Arthur Branch on Channel Tens Law and Order franchise, who also just happens to be a former Governor of Tennessee, is considering putting his hat in the ring to be the Republican candidate for US President in 2008. The latest here at Politico. From an outsiders perspective (ie non-American) there’s something somewhat appealing about him running, his character on Law and Order is said to be based on his actual persona, a number of the profile pieces and interviews I’ve read seem to suggest he’s a straight talker, although having said that he’s on the right in terms of the Republican Party, saying really stupid things such as the VT Massacre would have been avoided had Virginia allowed people to carry guns on campus (more guns is the solution? WTF?), and yet as a character he holds the promise of a Regan Presidency, one of substance and decisive measure. One to watch.

This speaks for itself:

The United States?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ leading hurricane forecaster said Friday that global ocean currents, not human-produced carbon dioxide, are responsible for global warming, and the Earth may begin to cool on its own in five to 10 years.

William Gray, a Colorado State University researcher best known for his annual forecasts of hurricanes along the U.S. Atlantic coast, also said increasing levels of carbon dioxide will not produce more or stronger hurricanes.

He said that over the past 40 years the number of major hurricanes making landfall on the U.S. Atlantic coast has declined compared with the previous 40 years, even though carbon dioxide levels have risen.

Gray, speaking to a group of Republican state lawmakers, had harsh words for researchers and politicians who say man-made greenhouse gases are responsible for global warming.

?¢‚Ǩ?ìThey?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re blaming it all on humans, which is crazy,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù he said. ?¢‚Ǩ?ìWe?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re not the cause of it.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù

More at HotAir.

I’m just waiting for someone to blame man kind for the Global Warming on Mars, I really am 🙂

Looks like the chaps behind E-Gold are in a spot of bother:

“Three owners of online payment processor E-Gold and an affiliated company have been indicted for money laundering and related crimes for allegedly allowing sellers of child pornography, operators of investment scams and other types of criminals to send and receive payments related to their misdeeds.”

I think I had an E-Gold account briefly either in the late 90s or early 2000ish, never used it, always thought it was a bit dodgy, and just as well I never used it.

Having said that I’m not opposed to alternative forms of paying online, just that the promises of it all being “backed by gold” always sounded like a scam to me, and the transaction fees for converting E-Gold to cash make the exhorbitant currency interchange and transaction fees PayPal charge look like a walk in the park.