The Irony that is Russia Today - www.rt.com

   
So, good ol' Zzoott's not written much here in quite a long while. Could be that the blogosphere is just too clogged, what with a thousand thousand thousand voices all shouting at the same time, rather like the intro to U2's 1993 Zooropa  www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEIMqyHIwlQ. Trying to get a word of any kind in edgewise among all that din and clatter seems a futile effort most of the time - sort of like banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall - www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvZqLchakTo. But, well, the show must go on, and so, too, must the world of zooty things still be explored. Thus, Russia Today and the ironic enigma it presents is fodder for today's blogging effort.


If you have not yet visited Russia Today's website - www.rt.com - or watched any of its broadcast 'news' reports carried on any number of cable systems or available 'live' through its website, you are doing yourself a disservice. Not all that different than the initial iteration of Al Jazeera http://america.aljazeera.com/ in concept and scope (and Al Jazeera's come a long, long way since then, turning into a fairly comprehensive, mature, and objective - yes, objective - news point), Russia Today is a rollicking romp, cast in the guise of providing legitimate news, but so Pravdaesque in its presentation and production values as to appear much more Daily Show http://thedailyshow.cc.com/ or Colbert Report http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/ than PBS Newshour http://www.pbs.org/newshour/ . Lest you be skeptical, take a gander, for instance, at the following article in today's RT, regarding the poor, stranded, man-without-a-country Edward Snowden: http://rt.com/news/165468-snowden-courage-foundation-launch/


Read it - no, actually read it - amusing and astonishing at the same time, but, upon reflection, troubling in the same sense that the former USSR's Pravda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pravda was so concerning back in the First Cold War's day: It provides a single-source point for 'news' coverage for, quite literally, hundreds of millions of folks who turn to no other news service, either because they can't or they won't. It makes even better watching fodder - and do yourself a favor and actually watch an entire broadcast - and you'll find it so much more reality television than legitimate news source. It's not bad stuff, really, from an entertainment standpoint; however, if one's trolling the channels or surfing the internet for actual, legitimate, objective news, well, RT is decidedly not that place.


Now, good ol' Zzoott's no prude to politicking, and not one for nationalistic chest-pounding or one of those 'Merica folks - http://merica-for-mericans.tumblr.com/ - but you have to recognize RT as it is, for what it is, rather than take it too seriously: a Russian propaganda tool, plain and simple.  That's what Al Jazeera was before it worked hard to reach legitimacy, and that's where RT lies right now in the spectrum of 'news' sources. It's in an infantile stage, and that goes a long way toward explaining its infantile content and presentation.


While lots of folks, including lots of legitimate news media sorts, have complained about RT and what it is and does, it is that kind of press that raises RT's stock as, the more fuss one makes about something the more likely it is to gain a better foothold by the act of that mention, no matter how denigrating the commentary or lop-sided the presentation. It's like a politician said to me once: "Zzoott," he said, "I don't care what they might choose to say about me in the newspaper, as long as they spell my name correctly." The same logic applies to Russia Today - it does not really matter what anyone might say, it only matters that they say it about Russia Today in order to drive their numbers up. And, I think it's safe to say Tsar Vladimir I approves of this message.

Hello, fellow zzoottophiles - the mighty zzoott will conjure something new to post shortly, as there is no shortage of zooty stuff to post, but, for the first time, I'm going to repost and redirect you to something decidedly hilarious: http://www.brandpowder.com/911-ds-the-perfect-car/

Sure, it's a photoshopper's cornucopia of fun, but, why not?

Besides, the nose of the DS was always a spiritual precursor to the 911's own schnoz, appearing almost a decade later.

With this shout-out to the funny, creative folks at www.brandpower.com, enjoy!

Googlelanden Uber Alles

Just a quick new post to post up here. I'm continuing to be a bit curmudgeonly about Google's AdSense unit and just what it is and does.
 

With the latest I response back from Google, it appears that the Googleandi can do whatever they wish to do with anything Blogger-related, and without providing any kind of explanation whatsoever for doing what they do.
 

Sure, you can ask, "Hey, Googlemanders! What is it that you're doing? Why?"

And, you'll get this response - no joking here:


"After thoroughly reviewing your account data and taking your feedback into consideration, our specialists have confirmed that we're unable to reinstate your AdSense account.

"If you'd like more details on our activity policies or review process, please visit http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153. As a reminder, further participation in the AdSense program by publishers whose accounts have been disabled is not permitted.

"Thanks for your understanding, The Google AdSense Team"


And, no, again, you'll find no answers there, either.

And if you ask any questions, you'll be informed, again, that you won't get any answers.

I'm thinking this may be the next Google Doodle:

Zooty? You be the judge....

So What is Google AdSense....and Why?

So - Google draws in lots of occasional bloggers - like me - and invites us to allow the fine folks at Google AdSense to make our little bloggies look more professional, with ads and banners running along with our blogginess....zzootty, I thought...at least at one time.  Figured if it did any of the monetizing Google AdSense promised, well, I could take the booty and donate it to my favorite charities....like http://www.redcross.org/ or http://www.gennesaret.net/ or any number of other well-meaning and well-doing organizations.

Well, turns out that one of my little bloggettes - this on on the launch of what was then the world's largest cruise ship - somehow hit the net in such a manner that it received a great deal of traffic and attention, and a huge number of hit and clicks compared to the mild attention my other drivel receives.  Fine, I thought - must be something striking a net-nerve out there...zooty!

Then the folks at Google AdSense contact this little bloggie and say, "Guess what? We think there's something funny about the hits and reads your getting. We've taken a little look - mind you, we won't tell you at what, or how, or why - but, on our own, we've decided that we don't like what we see, so we're going to cancel your Google AdSense account, take down the banners and such and, by the way, we're going to delete your account. Have a good day!"  When I inquired as to the how, why, and how-come of this, the only explanation I received was "Sorry - we don't have to explain. Have a good day!"

Well, turns out that I'm not the only blogifier that Google AdSense does this to - in fact, as soon as you reach the first plateau of "earnings" in Google AdSense - and my reaching that plateau took some 18 months or so - seems they use that to cancel and delete accounts and zero the earnings.  Thus, good ol' Google AdSense folks automatically pass those meager earnings - all of 'em - right into Google's pockets without any explanation to the poor and poorer blogger.

So - beware the Google AdSense come-on.....you're likely to be used, abused, then cast aside as soon as Google AdSense has what it wants...your work, your words, their money.  And isn't that zzootty!!!

Not Quite Zzootty - but funny, nevertheless....Closer from a Craigslist Ad

This is the actual closing paragrpah from a recent Craigslist ad:

SPAMMERS/SCAMMERS, I'LL MAKE YOU A DEAL: I won't spam you, if you don't spam me. What do you say, deal? Besides, I already laundered money for the prince of a small foreign country. He was a nice enough guy, but he didn't come through on his end of the bargain. I already bought all of those "enhancing" pills, they didn't seem to work for me. I tried the job that was offered that would make me thousands of dollars per week, and the police officer said I probably shouldn't do it anymore. I already saw you naked, if I want to see it again, I'll contact you.

Here's a link to the actual ad: http://bit.ly/ixQPoW

Might be that ol' zzoott will have to do a piece on all the spammers and scammers on Craigslist, and what Craigslist administrators and users are doing to block it or fight back against the scheming scammer-spammer-phishers of the Craigslist world.

zzoottland: Who Knows What Evil Lurks In The Hearts of Men? The Shadow (Budget) Does

zzoottland: Who Knows What Evil Lurks In The Hearts of Men? The Shadow (Budget) Does

Who Knows What Evil Lurks In The Hearts of Men? The Shadow (Budget) Does

Alrighty - so we're taking a little license this time, borrowing a bit from the tag line of an old radio-days radio show, The Shadow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow 

But, this blog entry is not about The Shadow - it's about the Shadow Budget, loosely translated as the mountains of cash and credit our own Federal Reserve http://www.federalreserve.gov/ has put "into" the financial stream of commerce, and how, and why, and who's benefitted and benefitting from this quasi-governmental largesse.

And, no, you won't have to read through my rehashed Zzoottlandese to get to the nitty-gritty gospel truth - rather, like the aggregator zzoott somtimes is, you're being redirected to the venerable Rolling Stone Magazine http://www.rollingstone.com/ for a pre-read of the article that hits the stands on Friday, April 15: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-real-housewives-of-wall-street-look-whos-cashing-in-on-the-bailout-20110411?print=true  Please pardon the zzootted one for the bits of vulgar language the author apparently feels must be salted into popular reporting in order to actually be read - personally, it's plenty zzootty without the bow to base language.

So - who actually does know what evil lurks in the hearts of men - and, apparently, women - you decide.

Now that's zzootty!