I find this interesting. Here’s a story from the UK paper Times Online:

Arianna Huffington looks set to cement her position as the Queen of Capitol Hill in the next few days.

The Times has learnt that the Huffington Post, her influential political website, will confirm within the next week that it has completed a $15 million (£10 million) fundraising from investors.

The link to this story on Drudge Report:

PAPER: BAILOUT FOR HUFFINGTON; QUEEN OF BLOG GETS $15M LIFELINE…

If you actually read the Times Article, it very clearly states that this was fundraising by investors for expanding HuffPo into local news and investigative reporting. Not, as the Drudge Headline implies, a handout to stay afloat.

Methinks Matthew doesn’t care for his competition very much.

Technorati Tags: Arianna Huffington, Bailout, Blog, DrudgeReport, HuffingtonPost, Investigative journalism, Investors, Matt Drudge, media

This is a test of the Flock Blog Editor.  This is only a test.  So There.

Tags: SiteRelated, Flock

Technorati Tags: Blog, editor, flock, test

Here’s the deal. Once a year, my lovely website manages to do something so amazingly stupid, so unabashedly decerebrate, so mind numbingly douchelike, that it takes me days–or even weeks–to fix. It’s usually this time of year. And, it’s just happened today.

I don’t know if it’s my database, or something related to my webhost. However, the simple fact remains that 4 of the 5 categories for my website magically disappeared overnight, and most of the posts were reassigned to the Blog Feed. Personally, I think my webhost is somehow related, because it’s becoming more and more apparent that they have the same quality control and maintenance schedule as the Army Corps of Engineers. They’ll be renaming my server to “Parade”, shortly.

Anywho, I’ve fixed the problem going forward, and will be working incrementally to reassign the posts to the correct category. Yes, I WILL have loads of fun, thank you very hard.

While I’m doing that, please make yourself at home, and consider anyone of our wonderful sponsors on the Shills Page. A portion (roughly 100%) will go to the Left Of Center Fund for the study of Repetitive Motion Injury Onset. I’ll have data on this important research, starting aaaaaaaany moment now…

Technorati Tags: Blog, Carpal Tunnel, Categories, Site Maintanence, Site Related

Can you close your mouth? You’re causing a draft. Besides, you really should pick it up off the floor, I’m not sure how recently the cleaning crew mopped.

So Im down at the courthouse at 7 am on a wednesday morning in the magnificent month of June. Why, you’re asking?

Ok, we can get into all the ugly details here or we can just say something polite and evasive such as :

I was down at the court house because of the sims of omission committed by others. However since it was done by using my name, I bear the ultimate responsibility and therefore I was required to be at the courthouse bright and early.

Why 7 am? Because I couldnt confirm that a bus would get me there on time and had 9 drop me off before he headed to work. he asked that I not get arrested, which I can accept, I think. But I dont know HOW I ever managed that frst couple of dozen years of my life without such pithy advice. But 9 is by nature a worrier and whether I think its necesary or not, he worries about me. Think he likes me or something.

So Im sitting there, and its the point of the morning where the breeze is still slightly chill but you can tell that the day is going to cook the minute the big flamin ball of gas comes up over the treeline.

I always bring a book to court and I have no idea why as Im usually too damn busy - and ok, i was going to say interested but a more accurate word might be nosey with my liking to know whats going on to ever actually read the damn book.

But something as simple as people walking can be really captivating. The difference between a woman walking in flats and that same woman in heels can be an amazing thing- the simple difference in muscle groups could probably get me going for a couple of paragraphs but I wont .

But it was quiet. Well it was until leaf blower woman came by- more muscle groups to study- but give her credit, while she was anywhere near me she dialed that thing down to minimum even though it was making it take her forever. My allergies thank her for the attempt and I sneeze anywhere but in her general direction.

The security guy was pretty cool- he actually kept coming out and apologizing for not being able to let me in until 730- about the 3rd time I started giggling and told him that I have 3 kids and this chance to grab some peace and quiet was probably going to be the best thing that happened all day. so he quit coming out, but it didnt stop him from coming to the door several more times to check on me. So when 7:30 rolled around I decided hed be a lot happier if I came inside, and besides I needed to blow my nose. so I got metal detected and came in and headed for the ladies room.

In the womens bathroom on the stall door is a HUGE smiley face and the standard, ” Smile, God Loves You” which is debatable. But it struck me, does God love graffiti? What kind of Godfearing Christian is going to deface Government property? Is the message so much more important than respect for law- assuming she has any? I mean, we ARE in the bathroom right outside traffic court, and if shes going to do 123 in a 55 mph zone, she may be finding out just how much God loves her a lot quicker than she may want to. Too many get religion in jail. too many people get social diseases too, and if youre thinking Im making a correlation between religion and social diseases, well hey you got it on the first try and we can crack open the beer and get soused starting in 4 3 2 …

Oh. For the record, while I believe in God, I sincerely doubt anyone could call me a good Christian- or probably even a Christian at all. I have had a direct personal experience of God- more than one actually, though Ill probaly never discuss them publically- because the thing about what happened is that it isnt anything that can be described in a way to make someone feel it, you would have something similar happen to you to understand what I was saying and then of course you wouldnt need ME to tell YOU. So in my own cranky bitch ass way, Im all for dont ask dont tell. I wont push my God a t you and you can keep yours right there with the Elvis painting and the glow in the dark statue, and we’ll see about how that cuts down on the holy war syndrome.

fucking oxymoron. There is NOTHING holy about war.

Anyway, the quiet was uncanny. The kind where you feel your heartbeat slowing down to match the pace of the wind shifting through the trees and rustling the sycamore leaves.

The courthouse guy was trying to be nice. But I have a husband and three kids and a job that while intrinsically stupid and beneath me is quite draining on a mental level. I was not exaggerating or being polite when I said that the best thing that would probably happen all day was sitting outside of General District Court 10 on a bench at 7 in the morning with nothing to do for a whole hour except breathe.

Even if it did severely fuck with my allergies.

Technorati Tags: allergies, Blog, court, graffiti, religion

I’m wondering about creating a separate page on the blog, and making that a live video feed to the Ha Ha Hacienda. Just become really interested in Ustream and whether or not it would be useful.

I’ll cogitate on that some more and let you know.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Video

As you may be aware, LOC had many more posts than you currently see. SO, when I got a call from Loon with the following two words, “Fix It!”, I knew what I had to do.

Get the podcasts back up.

OK, you’ll start to see the podcasts coming back into the podcast feed over the course of the next several days, culminating with the next installment of The American Smartass.

Stay tuned, as it were.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Podcasts

I’m toying with the idea of looking for a person who would be able to scour the various news sources on the web, and generate blog postings here during the day.  Here’s what that person would need to do.
(more…)

Technorati Tags: Blog, Job, News, Posting

So the odd little man that calls himself my Maximum Leader comes up to me and says, “Alex,” we haven’t actually…”, and trailed off.  Then he actually cocked his head off to one side for a moment as if lost in a thought (or more likely, just lost in the middle of a sentence that he forgot the end to), and quizzically asked “Well, what exactly do you do around here?

Well, thanks for caring, esteemed wrangler of fuckery. 

What I do around here isn’t exactly the point, is it?  It’s what I am that counts.  I’m Alex, and if you don’t know, let me be clear:  Without me, this little abortion of reality you call a blog/podcast/collection of bits, bytes, and bullshit doesn’t exist.

So he asked me to head up the FreakFeed, The Freakery, the Parade of Fucknaciousness that the FreakFeed is to be.  Not actually being up on what our short little overcompensating owner wants, I made the mistake of asking.  Memo to masses:  You should not EVER do this.  The reason?  Accountability.  In fact, let me say that again in painful bold capital letters: ACCOUNTABILITY.  Yours, not his.  See, the second you open your mouth and ask that kind of a question, invariably you get some answer from El Loco Nueve that means “You figure it out”.

It is the psychological equivalent of standing in a bedroom of the Mustang Ranch, dick in hand, and suddenly being struck with a strange but acute amnesia that makes you forget the whole Tab A/Slot B thing, and you end up sticking your junk in the business end of a hairdryer. 

So, if the balding little bastard wants to delegate authority to me, then my job is to remind him of his mistake as often as possible.  How, you may ask, do we do that?

By making the FreakFeed the single greatest source of quirky, sarcastic, venomous, biting humor anywhere on the series o’ tubes.  Submit your parody news stories here, your humorous writing, your comedy stylings. Your funny original videos, your own original audio files.  Bring it.  We want it. 

Questions?  Leave them in the comments here, and I’ll answer them.

Receive and Transmit….

Technorati Tags: Blog, user generated content