SMH: Labor digs in for early election
After saying over and over again they wouldn’t go early, all of a sudden they’ve changed their minds…at a time polls are heading in the wrong direction for them, and the media has reports such as concern from ALP back benchers that this could be a one term Government.
Still, at least Conroy got his skiing holiday in before the campaign starts proper. 🙂
Hit Google News.
Hit Google Blog Search.
Over 50 bloggers were fired from what was once the third largest blog network, a network that has taken $8m in funding, and hardly anyone wrote about it.
They’ve also launched a new site today. The interwebs are silent.
A couple of people who did write about it
Tyme White: b5media, Crushable, and protecting yourself as a writer
Roberta Ferguson: b5Media opens fire on the entire entertainment channel, fires 50 bloggers
Meida Bistro: B5Media Terminates Entire Entertainment Network; 50 Freelance & Full-Time Bloggers Gone
Trus Hussey: How the Mighty Have Fallen: b5media Shutters a Prime Channel
Gary Conn: B5media Fires 50 Entertainment Bloggers
So I joined an online dating site, specifically Fairfax’s RSVP. Yeah, yeah, online dating etc…
But there’s a catch. Well, there’s not that sort of catch yet, its been less than 24 hours 🙂
The filtering sucks.
I received an email of potential matches: none of them matched.
The problem is that while you can say what your preferences are, it’s difficult to filter other peoples preferences.
For example: I don’t care if the other person is single, divorced, separated etc. But I can only search based on that criteria for them, vs what they want in a partner.
Example: women who only want someone who is single or doesn’t have kids. I can search if they do or don’t have kids, but I can’t filter out those who want someone who doesn’t have children (obviously there I have a son.)
And it can’t be that hard. I think I could write the SQL query to do it based on my one semester of SQL in 98 🙂
Mass Firings At b5media: Entire Entertainment Network Shut
I’m not happy about it. I’ve settled my differences with the other founders (well, the actual founders, not the interloper), and although there is the odd person who has been fired today I’m happy about, mostly I find the news sad.
The thing is though: b5media is now terminally fucked.
It has to be.
Alexa rank:
Bizzia 12,949
Splendicity 16,648
Blisstree: 12, 949
Everyjoe: 13,282
vs: Inquisitr: 7511
Oh, and I did it on the smell of an oily rag vs $8m.
Yeah yeah, Alexa isn’t accurate. But if there’s one thing former b5media CEO Jeremy Wright and I’ll both agree on, it’s that a high trafficked site will have a sub 10k Alexa rank. None of b5media’s sites do.
And now, zero entertainment blogs. Problogger and Digital Photography School don’t count even if listed on the b5 front page; they are Darren Rowse’s blogs and I’d be highly surprised if they are owned by b5media today.
I’m sure there’s a saying here about orgies in brothels and the ability to organize them…it will come to me 🙂
Or maybe it’s just ABC Journalists with the first name of Tony?
On Q&A last week (the school children vs the PM episode) Tony Jones fumbled the name of iiNet, and suggested that people had been downloading pirated movies from “iiNet’s website.”
The biggest copyright case in Australia in years, and he doesn’t understand that iiNet is a carriage provider and was not providing the content at all.
Then this morning, Tony Eastley on AM…where do you start here (transcript here.)
Police in Queensland are working with Interpol to investigate a website that was set up after the stabbing death of the 12 year old Brisbane boy.
Um, no, it wasn’t a website set up, it was a page, or specifically a group on Facebook. One page on a website of hundreds of millions of pages.
Overnight Queensland Police began an investigation and officers worked to dismantle the site.
What, QLD police worked to dismantle Facebook?
Emily Bourke with that report and Queensland Police have told AM the website has now been taken down.
What, Facebook has been taken down. OMG.
Side note: the report claimed they had no idea who had made the attack; without having checked, it doesn’t take an expert to guess that readers of a certain website did it for the lulz.
Kevin Smith on Avatar (via Wired)
“I enjoyed it for what it was,” Smith said of James Cameron’s Avatar. “I’m totally with the big blue fucking cats. Especially the one cat that was sexy and I wanted to fuck her.”
Per the earlier post on a Melb poker night, I loved the idea so much we’re now sponsoring it.
32 people. We’ve gone from 9 to 18 today. If you’re in Melbourne, and have avoided MTUB, or are a regular, either way come down. It’s free, and there is free prizes for those who register. I’m hoping a free drink for all, then after that a prize for the winner, not sorted yet, but it will happen.
The thing I love about Poker is that it’s the great equalizer, even vs MTUB itself. You sit on a table with folks, you get to know them. Full stop.
Come join us for a fun night even if you’ve only played a couple of times. It’s a friendly night, with the opp for you to meet a pile of ppl.
The folks behind MTUB (Melbourne Twitter Underground Brigade) have organised a poker night Feb 24.
If you like poker (and there’s no secret that I love the game) and want to meet some Twitter/ tech people over a friendly game, sign up, it’s completely free.
If you’ve ever played Pub Poker before you’ll also know that a poker table is a great way to meet new people as well. Poker is the great equalizer.
My only disappointment: it’s an “annual” event. If we can get enough people it should be more frequent. If not, I’ll have to start holding poker nights at my new abode…well, when I eventually get that place that is 🙂
Wikipedia:
“In warfare, ramming is a technique that was used in air, sea and land combat. The term originated from battering ram, a siege weapon used to bring down fortifications by hitting it with the force of the ram’s momentum….”
No matter how many times I watch this video, I get the same result. The front of the Sea Shepherd boat hits the SIDE of the Japanese boat. If the Sea Shepherd was rammed, wouldn’t it have been the other way around?
Of note as well, it would appear that the Japanese vessels attempts to avoid collision at the last moment, trying to turn away. At all times though the key is: the Japanese vessel is IN FRONT of the Sea Shepherd. If the Japanese were trying to ram the Sea Shepherd vessel, wouldn’t they have been behind, and not side on?
The Age: Burned Indian faked attack to claim car insurance: police
And this follows the recent murder of an Indian man by other Indians. Both cases were cited in the Indian media as examples of Australian racism.
So is an insurance scam racist?
Side note: the funniest thing this morning was listening to the head of the Indian Students Association on ABC Melbourne. The same guy who appears in the media at the drop of a hat crying racism as loudly has he can, told Comrade Jon Faine that these cases should be left to the courts to decide and not the media. LOL.