Year: 2007

This my new favorite song.

Who else but They Might Be Giants could bring Ashurbanipal into a pop song?? I give it 5 awesome’s (out of a possible 5).

Thanks to Laughing Squid for the link to the video and also to The Mesopotamians t shirt!

They Might Be Giants – The Mesopotamians
http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf
Add to My Profile | More Videos

The book (Steven Holloway’s excellent work Orientalism, Assyriology and the Bible) where I was footnoted for the first time (Prof Ben Foster of Yale’s Ancient Near Eastern Dept cited my work Asia Has Claims Upon New England) was just reviewd by the Review of Biblical Literature.

How I found this book is a great story… I was in Nashville this past Spring for the regional meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature / American Academy of Religion meeting and hit the bookstore that had been set up at the conference. While scanning a book table, I noticed the unusual cover and read the title. Immediately, I knew I had to have this book (not too many non-journal publications on Assyriology these days). I had to wait until the last day of the show to pick the book up because it was the only copy the publisher had with them and they wanted to keep it on display. So, as my group was headed out of Nashville, I stopped by and picked it up and began flipping through the pages. I noticed that one section was written by an old Yale Prof (well, I never had a class with him, but I did take a class with his wife and I did bird sit for them one summer). As I skimmed through his article, my name caught my eye and I had to do a triple take before I realized I had been footnoted by a top Professor in the field of Ancient Near East studies. It was quite a moment for me… it’s the little things, you know?

Nonetheless, I can’t say this is good bed time reading for the general public, but if you’re into history or 19th Century “western” perceptions of ancient history, this is a must-read:

Description: “Orientalism” refers both to the academic study of the Orient and to Western scholarship that clings to stock images of the timeless East and oriental despotism. This landmark collection of essays, the first in its field, is written by seasoned art historians, Assyriologists and biblical specialists; it is organized under four rubrics:

Review of Biblical Literature

Just picked up Macy from the vet’s office after her surgery for a torn ACL.  She’s doing great and has officially joined the stitch club with Schaefer and Sylvia.  With all of our pups’ surgeries, amputations and blocked intestines, we’ll be more than prepared for Mary Hudson’s schoolyard bumps and bruises that will inevitably happen!

ConvergeSouth is happening this Friday and Saturday down the mountain in Greensboro, NC. I’ll be speaking there on affiliate marketing and web2.0 stuff, but there will be some real luminaries from the tech world there as well. Should be a blast!They’ve even put together a spiffy map if you’re in town:

ConvergeSouth 2007 Venues:Google Maps

Let me know if you’ll be there and we’ll grab a coffee.

While downloading mail from GMail via pop today (something I do every month) I got this wonderful screen on my GMail acct (which, of course I use for work and personal mail):

That’ll learn me, eh?  Especially after I left a few glowing comments about GMail on Andrew Wee’s post about GMail memory usage.

I’m chocking on the irony here, folks.

Anyways, if you want to reach me please use the me@samharrelson.com address.

I’ve been using the release client of Ubuntu 7.10 (the final release is due this Thursday) for the last few days and think it’s a great step forward for the Ubuntu distro. Lots of great features (better power management, integrated Compiz, better monitor resolution, new Gimp, Tracker search etc) make this my favorite distro so far.

Just wanted to note that this morning there was a huge update in the repositories for all sorts of programs and the Ubuntu desktop. So, if you’re already using 7.10, prepare to hand over some cycles to the update manager!

I’ve been following the Ellington Hotel / Condo issue here in Asheville for a while and I still don’t understand the various arguments from the critics (“the building is too high!” “it will cause too much traffic on Biltmore!”, etc).  While I am a fan of sustainable growth, it doesn’t seem as if the Ellington will add anything unbearable to the Asheville skyline or the already crazy traffic on Biltmore.  The locals know how to avoid all that anyway 🙂

ASHEVILLE – For opponents of The Ellington hotel and condominium building, a key question as the project goes to City Council tonight is whether city streets can handle the additional traffic. For backers, the answer is clear: no problem.

Seems like more political pandering by city council members seeking re-election to me.

CITIZEN-TIMES.com: Ellington critics question accuracy of traffic study

Powered by ScribeFire.

Macy tore her ACL on Sunday while doing her favorite thing in the world… chasing squirrels around the yard.

She’s undergoing surgery on Tuesday morning to repair the tear, so keep her in your thoughts if you don’t mind.  She’s not happy about being benched or going through rehab.

Put me in Coach on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

Powered by ScribeFire.

Steve Rubel writes on his MicroPersuasion blog that there is a looming recession in the pay per click advertising business and gives 5 reasons why he thinks this is so:

For the last several years, search engine marketing has been on a tear. While the big advertisers sat on the sidelines in the beginning, they have lately been ramping up their spend on pay-per-click advertising, primarily on search engines but also affiliate sites like those that run Google Adsense.

However, I am calling a top to this market now. Here are five reasons why a pay-per-click advertising recession looms. (If you depend on Adsense for the bulk of your revenue, this applies to you as well.)

Steve is an always thoughtful writer and one of my favorite bloggers, so you should definitely head over and read his 5 reasons.

Nonetheless, I have to disagree a bit (not just because I work for a paid search agency).  I’ll keep it short and sweet and say that Steve is correct in his 5 reasons as to why pure search marketing on a PPC metric will hit a glass ceiling (if it hasn’t already).  However, smart marketers and advertisers have already noticed this trend and have positioned themselves to evolve with the marketplace. 

This is especially true with his #2 (“Transition to CPA”) and  #3 (“Rising Costs”) reasons.  However, there is still a promising market for the search companies and agencies wise enough to blend PPC into a CPA or affiliate model and insure performance metrics that work out on the back end.  Rising costs are definitely an issue for the PPC world to tackle with, especially in the realm of ad networks like Commission Junction with their respective commission structures.  The trick there, as many search agencies have already figured out, is to go direct.

So, I agree with Steve that the PPC model in its pure state will see a cap or even downturn.  However, smart marketers and advertisers have already seen the writing on the walls (or search results) and have moved to make their businesses flexible and wide enough to deal with these market changes.  Look for those agencies to rise to the top.

Awesome…