Build Peace - Artemesia Pax - Save Our Internet

On her blog Build Peace Artemesia Pax ( I dig that name, considering that my name is Diánna and was named after Diana/Artemes) writes about how the telecommunication corporations are going to try to take over the internet, and regulate fees for it, and basically take away the rights of one of the bastions of our freedom - the information cyber highway.

I have been hearing about it from MoveOn.org and other places, but in finding her site tonight it hit home for some reason...

Please check out her blog and sign the petition to save the internet from greedy corporations.

It's easy to say (and I often do) that not a speck of what we do matters in the eye of the storm called corporate greed and absolute ruling power, but that isn't quite so; at least we can go down with a clean conscience that we tried all we could.

TomKat and The Reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard As A Girl

Call me just mean and ornery (pause for response), but is it not spooky that their new little baby girl, whom I am sure is a darling little creature (and I congratulate anyone for having a child, for I would love to have one myself), is already pre-destined to be one of the higher-ups in the Church of Scientolgy? Whether she wants it or not? Because you know that this little girl is going to be groomed to be the female Hubbard incarnate. It's almost like the SouthPark episode, actually, except that Tom Cruise will never ever come out of the closet in this story.

This little girl is going to be born into her faith - and most likely will never escape. Kind of like Katie. Under the "La-La" love you can see a deer in headlights. You know her parents are flipping out. I mean, their daughter and their granddaughter are being swept up into a fanatical situation. One can easily say that about any child that is born of parents that may have a certain religious faith, but many people are very relaxed about their faith. Scientology is not a relaxed faith. These people are in your face, forcing a very badly written sci-fi novel down your throat, demanding that you agree or that you're a complete asshole.

Well, at least she'll be rich. Maybe if she comes to her senses when she gets old enough, she can run off to another country with the money that she's been hiding in a shoebox. Should be at least a few million.

Newstex - Legit? : Continued

Okay, I apologize for flying off the handle yesterday, I was a wee bit menstrual. Forgive me. I think I used the word "Fuck" one too many times in relation to something that might be read by folks that I was actually writing about...not at them, necessarily, but at the irony of the situation. Please note: this may be the only time I apologize for anything on this blog, so dig it.

Actually, the folks who really burned my ass were not the folks at Leftyblogs so much, but these folks at Metafilter; well, at least the dude who said self-importantly, "well, I told them to screw off."
Good. Now you're blog will get a little less exposure, meathead. That will show you to be a rude fartknocker.

Part of what burns my ass is that I see a situation that could be really good for both parties: the bloggers that are writing interesting material that could always use a little more readership (because hey, that's why most of us write, otherwise we'd hang out at home, write in a diary, and toss it in the closet), and Newstex, who is a cool company offering a cool, innovative approach to taking bloggers to a new level of exposure.

A couple of other sites to offer legitimacy to this company are:

• Steve Outing's Blog which talks about the Newstex-LexisNexis merger and all the groovy benefits
  
• Shore's Content Blogger which also emphasizes the positives for the future of bloggers with this merger.

I understand that there's a lot of weirdness out there...hell, some asshole just tried to steal my identity from a credit card of mine the other day when I purchased a groovy new laptop bag from Timbuk2.com.

However, this company is legit and worth the tumble down the rabbit hole. I guarantee you.

Newstex - Legit or Not?

Everyone just needs to calm down.

Newstex is a legitimate company that is an aggregator of news and blogs and has clients like LexisNexis who are going to push said blogs and news in real time to various academic institutions, news stations, major companies, government offices, etc. Then, Newstex takes the news and blogs and adds category tags, name/stock tickers and so on, to make it easier to search through. Here is a link to a recent press release about LexisNexis becoming a client of Newstex.

So basically, if Newstex contacts you, it means that your blog is worth a rat's ass and somebody thinks that what you have to say is worth reading...and that their clients would want to pay to add you to the mix of blogs in their feed. They just added Gawker Media (Wonkette, Defamer, Gizmodo, etc) and Corante as blog publishers, and I find it really hilarious that some bloggers are so suspcious about signing on...
I mean, come on, if blogs like Mark Lisanti's Defamer and Wonkette and Gawker are taking advantage of the opportunity to get more exposure for their blogs to people that might not normally see it, AND perhaps score a little pocket change to go towards paying for bandwidth, what's the fucking problem?

I was reading a blog tonight that made me laugh...the blogger was questioning the legitimacy of it, and all the other bloggers that were commenting, who are part of that particular collective blogging hub, kept saying "Yes, I think they're sending them to all the Leftyblogs...it's definitely a scam." I don't question initial skepticism by the person who put out the question, but the replies in the comments section were what made me snicker. Everyone just jumped to conclusions.

As if Leftyblogs is the only cool blog collective on the internet, and there is some goddamn conspiracy to overthrow them. I laughed out loud...because although these people have something interesting to say in their blogs (and that's the whole point as to why they are being approached by Newstex) they are really buying a wee bit too much of their own hype.

I mean, come on. The whole reason people blog is to share their thoughts and ideas with the world.

Why am I on this rant?
Because I know the people who run this company, and people who work for the company, and they are really legit. They are starting something that is very cool and giving bloggers who aren't affiliated with major news channels or who just haven't had as much readership as they should a chance to get exposure and a little change in their pocket.
Personally, as a blogger with about five blogs going, the only one of which gets any readership is my MySpace blog, I think that's a damn cool thing. I also hate to see a bunch of people sit around on a blog site comment section bashing my friends' efforts to bring them in on this opportunity. I know someone who sat up surfing the net for excellent blogs, found the Leftyblogs and thought it was cool, and decided to approach them. These bloggers miss the point that it is a compliment that they have been approached. I can understand a wee bit of skepticism, but once they do a little homework, they should be able to see that the company is legit and there's nothing to lose.

April Fool - Yeah, That's Me.

I always get fooled, every April 1st. Last year it was MATTY who got me really good, convinced me the innocent documentary we filmed about his life story got mistakenly mixed up with a porn tape, causing a room full of senior citizens to have coronaries.

Yep. I wanted to kick his ass as he later said "Hey, I was just kiddin' D...April Fool's!"

Of course that was after I had totally flipped out, thinking that I had accidently pulled a Trainspotting tape switcheroo, causing my friend to forever go down in the Hall of Shame with his relatives, who were expecting a tape about the effects of cystic fibrosis, and instead caught somebody getting buttslammed into next month. I called friends who had been with me when I transfered the tape from digital to vhs, I backtracked my steps...scratching my head, I was horrified that I had caused such mayhem.

"But Matty," I said, woefully, "I swear, I've never even filmed a porn tape."

At least, not on my camera.

He played it like a shark, sounding upset and mildly pissed; he and his wife came to see me in my play, but this man is the true actor. Then the peckerhead calls me like an hour later...

"Hehehehe...got you good didn't I? April Fools!"

Ah, good times. I still have the scars from the self-flagellation that I endured during that long, painful hour.