Jack’s Old & Busted Blog

(Slashdot): The Real Nick W writes “Wordpress, an incredibly popular Open Source Blogging system was found to be spamming google by inserting hidden links to junk content on high paying Adsense keywords such as mesothelioma and debt consolidation. Following Threadwatch picking up the story an anonymous Google rep appeared in the original thread admonishing bloggers not to use sneaky tactics to rank highly for “duplicate content” such as the 100,000 hidden articles on the Wordpress site. The articles have now dissapeared from Google and it remains to be seen whether Google will ban Wordpress outright as they tend to do when SEO’s and web dev’s pull these kinds of stunts.”

It’ll be interesting to see how WP will mollify their users, who would seem to be pretty PO’d at this.

(arstechnica.com): News that Wordpress — a popular blogging software — has been using hidden advertising on their website to generate funding has left some enthusiasts bewildered and others betrayed.

I’ll say this: I donated a token amount to the WP cause when I switched from Blogger, and I never received so much as a “thank you.” I wasn’t expecting a T-shirt or anything, but c’mon.

This sort of perpetuates the stereotype of the pale, willowy vegetarian, doesn’t it?

(Forbes.com): Vegetarians who eat only raw plant-derived foods have abnormally low bone mass, usually an early sign of bone-thinning diseases like osteoporosis, a new study finds.

David Byrne has launched his own Internet radio station!

(Business 2.0): “The iPod music player has become totemic; it’s selling at a rate of about 40 per minute. White buds sprout from so many ears that a sudden human evolutionary adaptation seems to have taken place.”

The Decemberists new album, Picaresque, is quite good. The first time I heard this group, I didn’t want to like them. They seemed a bit pretentious and “quasi-literary” (which might describe me in some circles). But the songs have hooks I’m only beginning to discover. I got my Decemberists music at emusic.com, which offers high-quality, DRM-free MP3s for not a lot of dough.

(latimes.com): “DeLay has denounced Schiavo’s husband, as well as judges, for committing what he calls “an act of arbarism” in removing the tube. In 1988, however, there was no such fiery rhetoric as the congressman quietly joined the sad family consensus to let his father die.”