March 2008 Issue

Filed Under March 2008, columns, readme 

smallbookguynew.pngIt must be Spring. Our two resident turkey vultures, Babs and Monroe, have returned from wherever they go in the winter and are busily tidying up their nest in the old dead tree about 100 yards from the house. And there is, of course, nothing that says “tax time” quite like having two real live vultures circling your house every day.Folks who visit this site often will probably have noticed that I’ve been experimenting with various forms of advertising on the site, ranging from the classy (Apple Store, Adagio Teas, etc.) to the unbearably cheesy and annoying (animated role-playing games, “smileys,” idiotic ringtones, etc.). The classy ads I pick. The sleazy ones (and, to be fair, a few good ones) are picked by Google and supposedly tied to content on the page itself. Just how my columns manage to provoke ads for online gambling and discount swimsuits is a mystery. I’m actually surprised I don’t get more ads for pet products.

Judging from the ads appearing on other sites, I suspect that I would get more interesting ads if I were to spend some time ruminating about how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had a secret love child named Levitra who married a guy named Cialis Prozac who built a self-improvement empire in Second Life and collected discount air fares and Fort Myers timeshares as a hobby. Now I’ve done it. No, wait. Ron Paul. There we go.

In any case, it beats me why you people aren’t snapping up the mail-order organic muffins. And would it kill you to have your DNA tested once or twice? Maybe you’re related to Dick Cheney too. Anyway, I’ll try to keep the ads fairly unobtrusive.

Speaking of famous brand names, don’t forget to take a gander at our newest spin-off, Ask for It by Name, where you’ll find the stories behind Mercedes, Coke, Motorola, Eureka, Formica, Microsoft, Velcro, Barnes & Noble, Adidas, Hermes, Hush Puppies, Frisbee, Pringles, Godiva, Coca-Cola, Budweiser, and Dr Pepper, just to mention the most recent entries.

Onward. As I mentioned in mid-February, there’s something new at the bottom of every page of this site: a customized Google Word Origins search engine which will search a range of English etymology websites for any word or phrase entered in the box. It sure beats searching the entire web for something if you can’t find it here.

Lastly, please remember that this site relies on your support for its continued existence. If you enjoy what we do, please consider subscribing for less than four cents per day. Subscribers see the columns a month or two before they appear free on this site. This week, subscribers got the skinny on, among other topics, curling (the sport), the proof is in the pudding, and in the tank. Don’t miss out on the fun. They’re talking about abolishing pennies anyway, y’know. Why not send a few to our incredibly cute cats?

 

 

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