Showing posts with label farce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farce. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Breaking News From Iokon's PollNOLA!

Well, not really. In fact, they haven't done anything with the site since early December. It seems the wizards behind John Georges' own campaign website are unable to find any news of note on the heated 2010 New Orleans mayoral election.

From Iokon's own PollNOLA press blurb:
IOKON Media is proud to present a quick and dirty little project that we’ve been tossing around for quite some time now. The project is called Poll NOLA and it was built in order to digitally track the reputations and press coverage of New Orleans Mayoral hopefulls for the 2010 race. Custom developed from the ground up, we utilized some basic WordPress features with a blend of our own creative programming, for an awesome collection of aggregated data from all over the web.

We know it’s tough to track so many candidates, their websites, tweets, press releases, blog posts, Facebook announcments and everything else social that these Digital Media newbies have going on, so go ahead and pop on over to Poll NOLA where you can follow the 2010 Race for Mayor of New Orleans.
Clearly Iokon nor PollNOLA has any concept of "soon."

Currently, PollNOLA has front page headlines for six of the two dozen mayoral candidates who threw their hats into the political arena: Troy Henry, James Perry, John Georges, Nadine Ramsey, Ed Murray and Leslie Jacobs. (There's also a rotating headline that Mitch Landrieu may enter the race and Irvin Mayfield won't!) Two of those candidates, Jacobs and Murray, have already picked up their political toys and gone home. PollNOLA has no mention of their withdrawal from the election. In fact, the only lead stories on the site are about the candidates announcing their candidacies!

PollNOLA does suck the Twitter feeds from Henry, Perry, Georges and Jacobs, (Though Jacobs last Twitter update is her withdrawal back on December 16th!) but if you really care about the election you're following those Twits already.

PollNOLA was thrown together in late August, 2009, and has garnered an impressive four comments. Total. On 119 press releases and articles "selected" from other sources as varied as Hullabaloo Online, NOLA.com, WWL, Gambit and Your Right Hand Thief. You know, real sources with actual content. Of course, there's not much chance of people sticking around to comment at PollNOLA since most of these reposts are teasers that end with a "Read the full story here" link to the original article. It's easier to avoid plagiarism lawsuits that way, I guess.

One thing I find incredible is that a site called PollNOLA only has four actual polls on the site. Three posted on August 21st, 2009 and one from September 14th, 2009. Curious as to how they have helped to inform the citizens of New Orleans, I participated in the latest poll on whether Ed Murray's digitized-hype campaign video was a good thing or not. After choosing the option that I didn't care in the least, a cute little text sentence replaced the poll: "Thank you for your vote, all results will be displayed soon!" That was about thirty minutes ago.

So I wondered, with all the expense of hiring people to slap PollNOLA together, throwing in some content leeching code, buying a domain name through GoDaddy and protecting their identity using GoDaddy's pricey DomainsByProxy service and whipping up those polls that just don't work… is it all worth it?

Results for PollNOLA:
mywebsiteworth.com - $72
websitevaluecalculator.com - $103
sootle.com - $1,315

For comparison, I also checked HumidCity:
mywebsiteworth.com - $53
websitevaluecalculator.com - $119
sootle.com - $291,972

AmericanZombie:
mywebsiteworth.com - $1,082
websitevaluecalculator.com - $119
sootle.com - $230,230

and Nation of Morons:
mywebsiteworth.com - $25
websitevaluecalculator.com - $103
sootle.com - $18,719

And if that doesn't clarify it, Google:
mywebsiteworth.com - $46 Billion
websitevaluecalculator.com - $4 Billion
sootle.com - $3 Billion

So, I think we've proven that website value calculators are about as useful for website valuation as PollNOLA is for content, but if I ever sell the Nation of Morons, I'll be pointing prospective buyers toward my Sootle ranking!

Oh, it's been about an hour now and the PollNOLA results still haven't posted yet. What a surprise. Like anything else associated with John Georges, I suppose we shouldn't hold our breath!

UPDATE! 01-26-10 49 days and counting (a full seven weeks) since new content has been posted to PollNOLA. Clearly there is nothing happening in the 2010 New Orleans mayoral election! The main ad square is still available on their front page! The results from the poll I participated in have still not shown up.

In honor of this post being hung at the New Orleans Ladder I'm adding their worth for comparison to PollNOLA:

New Orleans Ladder:
mywebsiteworth.com - $46
websitevaluecalculator.com - $119
sootle.com - $217,027

Thursday, October 2, 2008

One Financial Bailout, And A Side Order Of Pork

Want to know why the US Senate quickly agreed to pass the new version of the Financial Bailout with a 74-25 pass vote? Because they added over $150 BILLION worth of pork to it. Explain to me how this makes sense. I'll wait.

(Whistles Steve Miller's Take The Money And Run.)

I'm still waiting.

(Whistles Pink Floyd's Money)

Yeah, I thought you might have difficulty. So who gets the pork? The new earmarks are for makers of wooden arrows for children, (explain that one to me...) film and television production companies, and litigants in the Exxon Valdez case. Extended earmarks go to rum producers in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, the poor countries of Puerto Rico and American Samoa, mining rescue teams and safety equipment, (OK, that one I could let slide,) various Indian tribes, auto racing tracks, the District of Columbia and wool research. You want wool research data? It's hot, itchy, weighs a ton when it gets wet and you douchebags on Capitol Hill pull it down over the public eye way too often. You can slice off some of the hundreds of millions of dollars for wool research and send it my way for that information.

Honestly, I don't have time to research or delve into the details here, but do some digging and you'll see that this is not really a financial bailout, but another attempt at subverting the American political system to benefit a few senators pet lobbyists who happened to be coincidentally hanging around the Senate Chambers just before the bill went to vote.

Have a nice day!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Answers

I was going to blather on about Governor Jindal's commitment to keep the National Guard in service here in New Orleans allowing our local police to slack off and watch the broken crime camera monitors, but then I thought you might want something fun today. So here's an e-mail that's been making the rounds for decades. Hopefully, if I answer these "burning" questions adequately, you twats will stop sending this to me every three days.

QUESTIONS THAT HAUNT ME!

If you have sex with a prostitute against her will, is it considered rape or shoplifting?
Rape. Shoplifting is the act of stealing a physical object from the environs of a store. Please do not rape people, even whores. They have feelings too. At least when the pills wear off.

Can you cry under water?
Of course. You simply won't notice the tears. But in space, no one can hear you scream. What a retarded question.

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
Generally, murder is the result of greed or anger while assassination occurs due to differences in social or political ideologies. I don't have time to go into detail here, but you can try this nifty home experiment. Simply get a gun and shoot one person per day, then check the following morning's headlines and record the results in a spiral notebook. Assuming you select targets from all walks of life, you should be able to extrapolate the results in a few months time. (Editor's note: The Nation of Morons is not accountable for the actions of anyone who takes the above experiment seriously.)

Why do you have to 'put your two cents in,' but it's only a 'penny for your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going to?
More importantly, why are you ending your question with a preposition? But if you must know, both phrases are idioms. The former is a self-deprecating phrase now used to express humility when voicing one's opinion. (It's not worth much, but here's what I think.) It's origins may come from the early days of the British Postal Service, which charged two cents to convey letters containing the thoughts of the letter writer. The latter is used to denigrate the opinion of the target. (Your thoughts are worth just one cent to me.) Seriously though, can't you people Google this for yourself?

Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?
Get real. There is no heaven, but many religious zealots believe in Heaven. (Capital H, dimwit.) There are many different schools of thought here: In Heaven you wear robes, the clothes you die in, the clothes you are buried in, the clothes you wore on your mostest favoritist day on Earth, you are naked, (but nudity is not noticeable in Heaven so it's OK,) and so on, ad infinitum. I personally go with the naked thing, otherwise you'd look awful stupid being reincarnated as a polar bear in an Armani suit. Keep sending me e-mails like this and you can find out for yourself. Assuming that's where you're headed...

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
Because even though we can put a man on the moon and cheese in a can, our scientists have not found a cost effective way to produce round cardboard boxes. They must be wasting their time on silly shit like curing cancer, AIDS and world hunger. Do you really need to know the answer to this question? Just pop a slice in your pie-hole and enjoy the cheesey goodness. Besides, if there were no corners, where would Papa John's cram all the jalapenos and garlic sauce?

What disease did cured ham actually have?
Boogie Fever. Next question. (Swine Flu was just too obvious.)

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
Wow. I mention a man on the moon and it takes you an entire question to make a connection. It's because of slavery and cost cutting in the travel industry, you nit. A long time ago a bunch of black people and some white criminals in Britain thought it would be fun to come to the Land Of The Free and do all our luggage toting for us. In 1865 slavery was abolished, but since these people were so good at luggage toting, cruise lines and railways (and eventually airlines) hired them for pennies a day to continue hauling our crap around. Eventually the toters started complaining about making a Living Wage and rather than pay them decently, they were let go and we were forced to schlep our belongings around ourselves. Being Americans, (and the smartest, laziest white people on the planet,) it only took us a mere twenty or so years to come up with the idea of luggage wheels. Now I suppose you want to know why it took another forty years to put wheels on ice chests.

Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two hours?
Because people, like babies, are incredibly stupid. Next question.

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
Yes, the slow inexorable wheels of justice do not discriminate against any race, creed, religion or physical defect. (And yes, I said defect because it is one. You're not special, just deaf.)

Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?
Because most local stations find it cheaper buy old films and run them instead producing their own original material. Oh, I thought it was a riddle. You are comparing apples and oranges here. People star IN movies which are shown ON television. They are also shown ON movie screens. May I suggest a crash course in prepositions? You seem to have trouble with them.

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
Because people, like babies, are incredibly stupid. Next question.

Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway.
What doctor do you go to? I'd notify the AMA if I were you. Honestly, the doctor doesn't give a crap about your modesty. When he leaves the room, he's going to see another patient, or, if there are no other patients, he's probably going to bang his nurse and do some medical grade cocaine. Stay in school kids!

Why is 'bra' singular and 'panties' plural?
Must I remind you of the similarities of people and babies again? For the most part, brassieres are sold singly and panties often come in a package of multiples. The fashion industry knows better. That's why you can see ads for "The Vitoria's Secret Cotton Panty." Do you know what Victoria's real secret is? Her real name is Roy Raymond and he committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. (Google it, if you doubt my veracity.)

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?
They don't. Your simply a bad cook. Really bad. I mean, how stupid do you have to be to burn toast? I guess stupid enough to add an unnecessary comma in your question after inventing the phrase "horrible crisp." Most toasters do have an adjustable setting for the length of time the bread stays in them. This is because different people like different degrees of toasty goodness. Some like it lightly toasted, some like it dark and dry. The extreme time setting is a holdover from the days when electricity was not quite the tamed beast it is now. Back in the good old days, almost anything could cause power surges in our fledgling electrical grid and toaster makers made sure that even the weakest line could power their product without us having to keep plunking the bread down repeatedly. Satisfied? Good, because that's a theory I just made up. Fuck it, I'm on a roll. (That's a bread pun there, kiddo.) The boring truth is that quality control is a thing of the past and some toasters have little sections of coil that are wrapped too tight and never heat up properly. Rather than produce a fine, reliable machine, the toaster maker adds extra time to make up for shoddy workmanship leaving it up to John Q Public to dial in the correct time setting.

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?
I don't know. And I don't care. (Come on, you had to see that one coming!)

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?
Yes, because most hearses are manned by two living occupants. Why do you ask? Is the corpse in a hurry? I think it would be faster if they just followed the police escort.

If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
You didn't watch much TV as a kid, did you? The castaways on Gilligan's Island had a real radio. Now while Roy Hinkley, the Professor, was a pretty smart cookie, he was not a maritime carpenter. During the first season, attempts were made to fix the SS Minnow but most of these went awry and some caused even further damage to the boat which eventually fell apart somewhere around episode nine or ten. Even assuming the hole, which was pretty freaking big, could have been patched, the castaways would then be faced with the monumental task of lifting a one-ton, 37-foot twin diesel Wheeler Express Cruiser off the beach and about 300 yards into navigable water. And then we wouldn't have three years of fond memories. If you have a spare $99,000 lying around, you can pick up the SS Minnow used in season two's opening credits, (there were three, not including the one built on the Hollywood soundstage) from Scotty Taylor in Vancouver, BC. He had it up for sale back in 2006, and it's been completely refurbished. He bought it from a guy who was traveling south from Alaska and ran it into a reef in Hecate Sound off the Canadian coast.

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!
Yes, but Goofy is anthropomorphic and Pluto is a pet. Remember, there are no stupid questions. Just stupid people with questions.


If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?
Do you how expensive it is for restaurants to deliver to the southwestern American desert? (Yes, I know what you're thinking, but the ACME Corporation offers free delivery.) It turns out that Wile Ethelbert Coyote had been running stolen credit cards to finance his purchases from the ACME Corporation and was tried and convicted in 1966, hence the cessation of Road Runner cartoons in the same year. After serving ten years in the Maricopa State Correctional Facility, Mr Coyote was released and immediately filed a lawsuit against ACME which is still working it's way through the courts. More Info here.

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
Mineral oil and fragrance. Just read the freaking bottle for crying out loud!


If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
No, morality, good or bad, high and low, comes from parents, teachers and other members of the community in which a child is raised. Electricity comes from the socket. Don't believe me? Stick your fingers in one. Stupid questions come from morons. (Editor's note: The Nation of Morons is not accountable for the actions of anyone who takes the above advice seriously.)

Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
Yes. "The ABC: A German air with variations for the flute with an easy accompaniment for the piano forte" was published by Charles Bradlee in 1835 and arranged by Louis Le Maire. The theme used is that of Mozart's 1782 piano variations of a 1761 French folk song, "Ah, Vous Dirai-Je Maman." "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star adapted the same tune in 1806. It's common knowledge that people have been ripping off the Longhairs for centuries. Did you know that the lovely melody for "Stranger In Paradise" was originally from the Polovetzian Dance #2 by Borodin?

Why did you just try singing the two songs above?
I didn't, but if it helps, feel free. Next question.


Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it's in your butt?
Why do you claim to have a brain when it's clearly just a lump. It's called an asteroid regardless of where it is. Asteroid derives from the Greek word for "star like," aster (star) -oid (like.) Hemorrhoid is also of Greek derivation meaning "discharging blood." You are incorrectly comparing hemi- (half) with hemo- (blood.) Apparently you also have difficulty telling your ass from a star in the sky. I did notice that you managed to spell hemorrhoid correctly. Got enough Preparation H?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?
Have you brushed your teeth lately? Maybe a swig or two of mouthwash would help. As for sticking his head out of car windows, perhaps he's trying to replace your halitosis with some fresh air. Mint?

Do you ever wonder why you gave me your e-mail address in the first place?
Every fucking day of my life.