Moose on the Loose

Oh dear, yet again another government thinks that raising the retirement age is a good thing / plan. No matter how any in term government dress it up or spin it, it is effectively a money saving exercise. “Work Till You Drop” – I have no intention to, it’s called having a life.

The further you are from retirement, the more likely you can presume the retirement age goalposts will change (more likely unfavourably increase), consequentlyi don’t think they can depend entirely on receiving a suitable pension when the critical age is reached.

Governments probably prefer we all pass away the first day after retirement to they don’t have to pay a full pension. In my opinion like when the previous age rise was introduced this should only be applied to the new workforce enteringie new age 16 entrants, not existing ones. For those who have saved in personal pension schemes to have the option of retiring earlier it is a double whammy for them also & can feel justifiably aggrieved also.

I have lost faith in personal pension plans as I don’t think the 25% lump sum a Paltry annuity with the rest of the fund is an attractive enough proposition. If a 100% lump sum was available then would be a more attractive incentive to really enjoy a hard earned retirement. And even leave a decent inheritance to loved ones. Nobody knows how long they will live beyond retirement age.

Unfortunately not everyone has disposable income to contribute to such a personal pension scheme & most folk don’t even consider this at early ages of employment.

Any Government have a weak argument proclaiming that people live longer. Yes they may do on average – but the quality of life, capabilities & your physical health / fitness is not better.

Mid Life Retirement Option

Perhaps there should be a mid life retirement option period where work is resumed afterwards & whatever period up to say 5 years is bolted onto an individuals retirement age before they are in receipt of a pension? At least most will be more fit & able to tour the world, walk the wall of china, complete the Inca trail, quality time with their children or family or whatever their heart / dreams desires.

Perhaps there will come a day where state pensions is not even viable option & eventually abolished, & alternative options need to be seeked & implemented.

Maybe one day the conspiracy theory you see in Sci Fi novels like “Logan’s Run” will be of compulsory euthanasia at a fixed age not only to curb population explosion but to address where they are simply not enough funds to look after the elderly or support pension funds.

Life has a habit these days of imitating art and we maybe already live in an Orwellian society. When money runs out & natural resources dwindle that is how it might be. On theflip side , nature will always be one step ahead of us… we may create a cure for all cancers, but another disease will come along to control the numbers.

We cannot predict.

Retirement Pension Guide

An Orwellian Society, hmm maybe a little melodramatic & out of context, however Facebook is continually the hot bed of conversation with regard to acquisition rumours for those on the path to becoming another of the “Praetorians” of “The Net”?

Who Will Buy Facebook?

Are the figures quoted for acquisitions currently becoming a little overvalued?

Now, think about it, with all these social media sites cropping up left, right & center like rabbit holes, it never ceases to amaze me how the general public quite willingly allow relatively loose acquaintances the ability to pry a little deeper into their private lives. Is this because of vanity or ignorance or simply the innocence of wishing to socially participate (the desire to socially interact) in perceived friendly environments, which is human nature after all, however this is where our natural guards & common sense are generally lowered & go on walkabout.

I do think we are potentially opening ourselves up not only to privacy issues but also personal security. Not from friends, off course not, but anyone who could casually glance over their shoulder or have access to the central database for more sinister intent. Granted, it is fun to keep up with friends, joining in & sharing their enjoyment & happiness of lifes experiences, but it could get misused / abused.

Think about it, no I am not scaremongering, but lets get realistic about it.

Think about who the acquisitors are, who do they really have loyalties with? On the face of it … it is or is it simply a means of mapping ip addresses & names to deliver advertising, or is there more to it?

FBI Spy Revealed

Not related, but just an additional story?

Now, I like Facebook, then again I have only been on there a few weeks or so, thus it is still at the stage of being a novelty factor for me. It does possess the potential for greater longevity than it’s predecessors until the next king of the hill arrives. Ask me the same question in 6 months, on how often I log in Facebook then.

Off course like keeping up with what friends are up to, even though it consumes your time, when time is an affiliates most precious commodity … “there’s thousands of people wasting good surfing time petting virtual rabbits” – Loquax

… I say … lets boil the bunny.

The Facebook.com: Big Brother with a smile – courtesy of Kier

Big Brothers, Big Facebook: Your Orwellian Community – courtesy of Lee

Make what you will off the above linked articles I am neither condoning or supporting, there are probably other articles around, but they are there just for an additional read, if you have others please feel welcome to submit them in comments. There is no intent on my behalf to create a conspiracy theory thread, but to simply step back & examine the bigger picture & address accordingly.

At the moment it seems like a fad, a better model than predecessors and will probably enjoy / endure greater longevity. I realise Alexa rankings are to be taken with a pinch of salt in some respects, but if you look at some of these charts, it supports this case. So the timing for them for optimum sale price is essential, if that is their intent.

Has Beens

1. My Search 2. Friends Reunited

Current Crop

3. Flickr 4. Facebook 5. Youtube (Utube :P)

Web 2.0

I am still sitting on the fence with regard to any firm opinions of Web 2.0 and certainly not dismissing it out of hand, but looking how this maybe somewhat slightly pretencious buzz word / coined phrase fits into the grand scheme of things & how it can be applied from my own business perspective. I don’t think I am being blinkered, but being more objective by assimulting the information available without it running away & leaving me behind, just in case.

However, I am not wholly convinced by Web 2.0 as anything trully innovative, but readaptations of existings ideas aggregated together, except, and I may be wrong on this that it is merely “user generated / degenerate content” in the sense they provide it all, i.e. the user does all the work for you & you provide the platform for this. Like content is king & creating website stickiness by forming a community with quirky bells & whistles & widgets & applications. The platform maker earns to wonga & the content providers diddly squat … generally.

For affiliates jumping on Web 2.0 … What are the thoughts on the monetisation of these sites for affiliates apart from hoping to be bought out? Yesterday was Myspace, today is Facebook, what is tomorrow? Web 3.0 was that refferred to as virtual realms and mentioned Affiliate Summit (which was a very good event btw)? Don’t we have that already with World of Warcraft & biting Facebook members by turning them into Zombies … note I am currently a Ninja Zombie 🙂 … Social media sites … are the rage … are fun, but how do we monetise it? Social media sites are just that, the mindset of the user is not to purchase at the time when they are using these, unless you deliver CPM or allow for a very low CTR with low ROI (might as well brand build) on ads or develop applications to piggy back on the existing current fad sites.

“There are so many strands of social media. Social networks in the form of blogs and newsgroups … This content has allowed a more open dialogue between consumers and between consumers and business. Review sites and blogs, and sites like this, enable people to openly discuss the merits and faults in businesses and play a huge part in influencing people’s buying processes.” Lee McCoy

Lee presents his points well.

Also from a your own personal perspective, you have to consider if your business revolves around your lifestyle or vice versa, if you prefer the freedom of the former, then the full implemenation of so called Web 2.0 ideas may be inhibitive to this, as I guess you would have to be more hands on to ensure that nothing offensive is being published, as it grows it will become more demanding. Thus, it’s down to individual needs & to what scale you want to manage this.

If the concept of so called Web 2.0 is the future demand, then we will have to look at doing more work for the equivalent income, unless innovative ways of monetising are come up with. Then how long will it be before privacy issues become more of a concern?.

Now, I am not dismissing “Web 2.0” out of hand, nor the opinions of those strongly in favour, it’s just that from a personal perspective, it hasn’t grasped my “rollocks” and inspired / impressed me yet. Though I will consider ideas which can pigeon holed as Web 2.0 cos it sounds cool and see if it fits in with our sites.

I think that is enough waffle on this for now …

I will quite gladly add links to this blog entry to those who are firm beleivers of the Web 2.0 concept, as I like to read opinions of those which differ from my own by considering other perspectives.

These articles may provide an alternative & equal view point to the discussion:

Segmentation of Affiliates, Social Networking and the ‘Thick Long Tail’ by Matthew Wood

Post For Facebook Lovers and Haters

All Those Social Media Knockers: Start Listening

Matt Wood quoted to me saying it’s “Evolution” and to check this out which some of you may have seen already.

Summary:

With Web 2.0, keep an open mind either way. With Social Sites like Facebook .. Think! .. Sites like these show a how users are easily seduced into letting strangers & organisations know too much information about them. For example, if you say on one of these that you are going on holiday, when you come back you might be burgled. Just don’t be over zealous in what information you volunteer as it’s not your friends you need to worry about, but who else is reading.

BTW The Film “The Net” was back in 1995 and Praetorians are ficticious.

Social sites can be used for good or fun or bad or to counter bad. I won’t spell everything out as the idea is to think & read between the lines, as well think about time lines. So will Facebook for example be acquisited or become the acquisitor or both.

I will update grammatical errors later 😛 as I am off to build a Web 2.0 widget, whatever that maybe.

“St. George is the patron saint of England! His emblem, a red cross on a white background, is the flag of England! Adopted by Richard the Lion heart it was brought to England in the 12th century.

St. George’s Day is on April 23rd, so, in a sense, this is England’s National Day but unlike other countries, England does not have a celebration to mark this occasion !”

Which is a real shame! But for those of us who do have a bit of pride!

Happy St. George’s Day !!!

Here is a simple way to ascertain whether Ebay UK is encroaching on your company trademark or url (website address) or other well known ones that you are aware off.

It’s Quite simple really:

• Step 1: Within Google UK, type in the URL’s of 10 well known charities & then search i.e. www.barnardos.org.uk, there are dozens of them.

• Step 2: Into Google UK, type in the URL’s of 10 well known retail or finance or holiday companies i.e. www.butlinsonline.co.uk, again there are hundreds of them.

• Step 3: Into Google UK, type in the URL’s of any sites you have which are popular or other affiliates you are aware of. i.e. one good affiliate site is www.reviewcentre.com

Remember to try the above without the prefix “www.” as well

Please note the results maybe geo-targeted and may not show for your specific location.

Objectives : Observe the number of sponsored ads featuring “Ebay” & even “Ask” encroaching on the owners of those trademarks or intellectual property.Where is the ethics on taking money away from charities?

Spread the word to any companies you work closely with. Because this has been directly addressed with Ebay, as well as Google who in my opinion have the same hypocritical mindset & was also addressed with the affiliate network Commission Junction (as it’s CJ links which are being used at the time of this post).

Yet still none of them have had the decency to address this effectively.

If it’s your company being affected are you too yellow (chicken) to take on Ebay & ask / insist they stop this practice, whether it be them or close associates?

Report Ebay UK to the following:

Advertising Standards Authority, Office of Fair Trading, Trading Standards or the DTI,

or Alternatively send an email to any Newspapers or industry trade magazines like NMA or Revolution then perhaps this may then cease.

They are potentially taking away business & customers away from you !!!

One Little Duck aka Jason at Loquax, and fellow karoke partner / crooner has launched a new site called Fight Climate Change.

Something it sounds is close to his heart, and something not enough of us do enough about if anything. The aim of the site is to provide news and information about climate change, link to important reports in the media, and provide useful tips and products that can help you do your bit to help fight climate change.

I look forward to seeing how the site matures. Bestwishes with it Jason.

The US Government has had no alternative but to bow to public pressure and have subsequently handed over a copy of the cockpit video of the friendly fire incident in which a British soldier, Lance Corporal Matty Hull, was killed in Iraq. It’s a vital piece of evidence that The Sun must be applauded in publicly releasing, so that it must be shown at the inquest into this brave soldiers death. And quite rightly spark a flurry of angry reaction from us all, without adding any undue pressure on his family.

Reading & listening to the transcripts as well as watching the video several times, there is a lot to answer to, which must never be brushed under the carpet.

The Pentagon described the incident as “quite regrettable and unfortunate”. Sorry but this is extremely shallow & distasteful coming from them. This is only antagonised by the comments from Defence Secretary Des Browne who apparently “welcomed the decision”, saying it was “the right thing to do” … ask if he didn’t know it was available? If he didn’t then he’s not doing his job properly.

Lance Corporal Matty Hull’s widow Susan said:

“Not knowing is worse than knowing sometimes.”

“the life of an exceptional man, cut short by sheer and utter incompetence.”

The Sun’s defence editor Tom Newton Dunn said: “During our investigations we’ve come across a quite staggering amount of both US and British military personnel who are more than happy to see this creep into the public domain.” This was encouraging to hear & most welcomed, but I am not surprised. Gradually force commanders are starting to be a little more liberated in their comments about the government and their equipment, operation environment & living conditions.
The MOD says – The tape has not been played at the inquest yet because the Ministry of Defence said it did not have permission from the US. Excuse me, but the MOD initially categorically denied the existence of a tape. Since when should we have permission from The Pentagon over the death of our British Soldiers! We can only blame Mr “Poodle” Blair for that one. Lance Corporal Matty Hull’s inquest was recently adjourned because of the US government’s refusal to release the “classified evidence” … Poppycock!!! The MOD, The Pentagon, The UK & US Governments can only be perceived of having every intention to be deceitful and LIE to first & foremost Lance Corporal Matty Hull’s family, as well as the UK & US Public.

It’s not necessarily the pilots who should be made scapegoats, though they may have been stupid & ignorant of some combat arena procedure, coupled with conflicting orders and poor communications with air controllers on the ground … They do seem to have shown genuine remorse, however we don’t know for sure. It’s the governments which need bringing to justice, and why should American forces have immunity against prosecution in foreign courts … this i cannot fathom … I would like to see the pilots voluntarily coming forward to give evidence, I cannot assume whether they have or haven’t, but can assume if they did, their government would suppress these urges. Who allowed this international law in the first place?

I am not sure if the american pilots should be brought to justice but they should at least answer questions in a UK court of law as to what intelligence these orders were given which came from air controllers who seemed confused in what area they were in, but who actually instructed the air controllers. How many times leading up to the attack were orange marker panels mentioned by the pilots, surely they could have made a better judgement call?

In a military arena, no matter how many precautions are taken, blue on blue does happen, and casualties from friendly fire will occur. What I do find hard to stomach is the deceitfulness from both the UK & US government in their complete denial that a tape existed & unwillingness to release it until exposed by The Sun newspaper. I would be curious to know how they came about it, but glad they did.

Though I have no idea if the family wish to take civil action through the American legal system, or simply need the whole truth & nothing but the truth. If they do, then whatever diplomatic row occurs, so be it, but the government should finance & support them in this. Blue on Blue (Friendly Fire Instances), will unfortunately continue to occur because of the envelope / limits they are pushed too and the technology isn’t there to take out human interference. This doesn’t excuse mistakes, or poor / inaccurate intelligence but goes some way to explaining them. In the first Gulf War we lost as many men to friendly fire as we did to enemy fire. Deceitfulness shouldn’t be attributed to the people of the UK or the US, but only the Governments.

Defence Analyst Francis Tusa says:

“There seems to be a doctrine in US circles to fire first and ask questions later. In the UK it would be ‘ask first, fire later’

Obviously our sympathies lie with the family, friends & colleagues of Lance Corporal Matty Hull, and perhaps they are a little nearer to the truth. whether they will ever find out the full truth we don’t know. One having closure can be such an inappropriate word in circumstances like these and is occasionally used too flippantly.

What makes the US or UK government different from any other in situations like these, in the so called examples they try to set by being so self righteous & deceitful. Basically they LIED … It’s the not citizens which cause conflict it’s the governments.

The US Government (not the people) admit nothing because they live in their own world and don’t care about anyone but themselves. Historically there have been a number of recent military instances covered up by the US Government / Military like >> TO FOLLOW.