Saturday, November 29, 2008

Book Review: Pushing Ultimates

Today I received an email advertising Pushing Ulltimates, by "Lew Paz." I don't know why they sent me this email, but I wasn't thrilled.

However, to give it a fair shake, I went to the web site and looked at the publishing house's credentials. They have only Lew's book to their credit. Lew designed the publishing house's trademark. I think they might be rather friendly with old Lew, personally. You know. Friendly.

So I went through the excerpts they had on their site. The book purports to be a modern philosopher's foray into the mind and self awareness. I think. It was confusing. The excerpts show that most of this book is made up of quotes that illustrate the author's point. He uses really big words too.

Here's a sample from the Excerpts page:
From the works of numerous scholars of varied fields, it is clear that a vast proportion of the population is alienated from authentic self-awareness. This alienation has been described as a psychological/spiritual stultification of the evolution of consciousness, brought about by mass subservience toward external socially oriented goals, which disregard knowledge of human spiritual essence. As the great Hindu sage Sri Aurobindo maintained, authentic knowledge begins when we probe beyond appearances, beyond ossified traditional belief systems and sterile scientism. The quality of knowledge this book is concerned with is, as the scholar Henri Corbin wrote, “knowledge that changes and transforms the knowing subject.”

For serious.

Ok, now as a writer, I know how much effort went into this book. I know he thinks it's important. He spent all that time writing, editing, and then promoting his book. Designing the web site probably took an hour or two in itself. And registering the domain must be costing him at least $15. So it's not only time and effort, it's real capital he's invested into this work.

And it might actually help someone. Somewhere. With a large vocabulary. Who is easily impressed by proof-text quotes from alleged spiritual masters they've never heard of.

Me, I wasn't too impressed. But since they took the time to send me an email, I decided to take the time and give it a review based on what they have publicly available.

I think it sucks. I would rather see people go out and do magic than waste a dime or an iota of time reading this kind of self-serving new age crap. Magic is free, the knowledge you need is free, and this dude's insights... Well, let's just say that it's easy to find other people to quote who agree with the author becuase these aren't exactly original.

It's repackaged, sure, and seriously, the guy spent a long time writing it, and that's worthy of respect, but there's a lot of dreck that takes a long time to write available. So hats off for finishing a manuscript, Lew Paz, but next time make it more approachable, drop the quotes, and tell us what you really experienced and think about it.

The Secret to Power

Activation of the power of the grimoires to their fullest comes from two things. First you need to understand the context of the grimoires by studying a wide variety of approaches that were contemporary to one another. You need to read the Keys of Solomon, all the parts of the Lemegeton, the 6th and 7th Books of Moses, Liber Juratus, the Grimorium Verum, and most importantly perhaps, the Heptameron. You need to know the world view they are representative of by learning about neo-platonism, cosmic hierarchies, and Hermeticism. You need to know the politics of the time, and the doctrines of the Churches that were being tossed about.

Learning all that stuff doesn't take that long, really. I read like a fish breathes water. A couple of months on Joe Peterson's Esoteric Archive is enough to get your feet wet.

There's still another piece to activating the full power of the grimoires, in my opinion and experience, though that must be taken. Think of it as an initiation. You've got to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

On a list I belong to comprised primarily of pagans who also happen to perform ceremonial magic(k), a recent post was about the Right Path. I explained in my best possible non-judgmental, non-proselytizing way that there are lots of different individual paths, but they all end up at the same place, eventually. I also included that you know you're on the right path when you get a vision of the universe and your personal place in it.

That's exactly what you need to really activate the grimoires. Knowing about the hierarchies is great, but until you not only know where your place in them is, but also know that you are in that place because you've been spiritually transformed, you don't get to really get the full benefits.

My transformation came from church. I got a spiritual baptism that changed me at the core. I accepted what Christ did on the cross on my behalf. I saw that he made right what had been wrong for so long. I felt the cleansing of my sphere. It was a truly powerful experience that literally changed my life.

THEN I made contact with my Holy Guardian Angel. The spiritual transformation was given an applicable framework. Specific tasks were given, training programs were enacted, and at each stage progressively my sphere was sanctified, purified, and reconciled more to the place where I could operate from in power.

It was like being trained to use the equipment in an Air Traffic Control Tower. I learned to read the weather (astrological conditions), the radar (astral viewing/scrying), the codes to give the airplanes (seals, sigils, names), and the most efficient ways to direct landings and take-offs so that the operations were strategically coordinated (the frameworks of the grimoires). I learned disaster recovery techniques (sell the crystal skull and set wards against Tezcatlipoca), and emergency situation protocols (how to use the lead Seal of Solomon from the Goetia). I learned the ins and outs of the job, and then I got to work at the controls myself with the trainer right behind and slightly above me making sure everything went smoothly. We started at a small airport with a few airplanes (the Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals attributed to Trithemius), and worked my way up to more advanced Work involving a lot more craft (Enochian now, sheesh).

Every step of the way, the transformation I experienced in church during a praise and worship service has been added to, magnified, and made more meaningful. I no longer attend church regularly. I relate to God through my magic, my meditation, my contemplation, and even in the back-aching inscription of alternate alphabets into wood, stone, and metals. I pray a lot more and talk a lot less. All the knowledge and conversation with my HGA, all the learning from books, all the conjuring of Angels and Demons, it's meaningless without that initial transformation.

Do you have to be a Hermetic Christian with Gnostic tendencies to get the most out of the Grimoires? I can't say you must, because I never got jack shit out of them before I was one. I don't have anything to compare it to. But I can tell you that based on my experiences, it certainly does help.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Enochian Tools Draft Complete

I finished the first set of Enochian tools. Pics are below. I'll be making more as time goes by, more authentic, but I'm kinda eager to get started.








 
  
  
  
 

Friday, November 21, 2008

Barbatos in 2009

Well, ladies and gents, I've got some plans warming.

The Invisible College is a thing I've spoken of before. I'm going to start using a blog I set up before to track how I use magic to influence my world. I'd like to invite anyone interested in writing posts for the blog to contact me, and I'll add you to the list of authorized writers. I ask that only those who are comfortable talking about how they practically use magic to control their world contact me.

The rest of this post is an example of what I would expect to see at the Invisible College Blog, only better written, more creative, and less rambling. I do tend to ramble.

Barbatos in 2009

I was looking through the Goetia descriptions today, and found this description of Barbatos:
Makes you Dr. Doolittle, opens treasures sealed by magicians, divination, reconciles friends and those in power
I know, where did I ever find such an awesome and detailed description of the spirit? From my spreadshet. One of the columns I have for the Goets is a quick-reference guide to their abilities.

No, you can't have it.

Reconciles Friends and Those in Power

Hey, that sounds like the kind of help a leader of the US might need after taking over from a bumbling Texan with more financial backers than brains who single-handedly pissed off most of the countries of the world over the last eight years. That's also the kind of help I'd like to see get to work in Iraq's Parliament, the Palestine-Israel situation, and Russia-Georgia.

So, rather than experiment on my own country's leadership, I'm going to start in the backwater nations. A quick Google news search tells me that there are ample opportunities for Reconciliations between those in Power in many parts of the world. How wonderful for me!

I'm going to start with Somalia. The following dudes are having issues:

President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed & Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein

Granted, I don't have a large amount of info on the background of their problems, but I don't want to have to know. I want to gauge the effectiveness of Barbatos in bringing reconciliation between two political leaders. These dudes are the first target. I'll find some others later to get a wider sampling. If it looks like Barbatos is good at bringing reconciliation without any major catastrophes as a result, then I'll help Obama out in his efforts with Iran, Russia, and France. I'll also target the GOP and the Democrats, see if we can get a little peace in congress so we can make some progress.

Hmmm. Maybe I'll look for a spirit that makes Wall Street people SMART for a change. :-D

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

New job, less blog time...

Well, thanks to Bune, Och, and any other spirits that have worked on it, I've been enjoying a great new job. It's only been three days, but they've been grueling. Getting used to waking up and going to a job again, every day, has been quite an adjustment. I've gone from shower-optional to business-formal. I have to buy some ties. I got a haircut. I even brushed my teeth (my breath TOTALLY stank).

So I haven't had much energy for blogging. I've been coming home, spending time with the kids, and then passing out when they go to bed. Last night I woke up at 11 and was up until around 2:00 a.m. catching up with online friends and working on my Enochian Table.

I've made some progress towards finishing the Table for Enochian Work. I'm wood-burning the design into the top. I fucked up a bit, here and there, but following in Soror Gimel's(1) Piscean ways, I'm considering it a "prototype."

If it looks too bad when complete, I will likely stain the whole thing ebony, and then use gold leaf for the letters. I think that would be totally beautiful when finished.

The picture above is of the table earlier last night. The photo below shows where it's at now.

Now, for the feet... Well, I'll make another post about that tomorrow. I'm tired.

(1) The author of the My Gal blog; also known as the Grand Gardener of Gribbit Grove

Friday, November 14, 2008

Enochian Magic(k)

When we heard DuQuette's Enochian Vision Magick was out, Fr. POS and I decided to work on it at the same time, so we could compare notes. He and his gal have done some neat work on the Tablet of Nalvage. I mean, really neat. The letters are all carved by hand. Look at them. That's really good work.

So now I have to catch up. I got started on the Ring of of Solomon yesterday. Soror Gal gave me some pointers on how she made her rings out of Sculpey. I followed most of her advice, but I made my ring in two parts, and then when it was finished baking, I filed one side down of the ring part until it was flat. After gold-leafing it (and gluing the ring part back together where it broke because I was using "Ultra Light" Sculpey), I glued the square to the ring using wood glue.

It's not the most sturdy thing, but it will do until the paychecks start rolling in and I can buy some real equipment for making magical talismans out of the proper ingredients. I may not be Wade Coleman, or at least not for a while, but I'll be getting the stuff to do the work he does. Maybe "Ugly Works" won't have to be my motto for much longer.

Anyway, I've got two pounds of beeswax and a nine-inch pie pan. I'm going to see how thick one pound is, and I hope I'll have enough for both the Tablet of Nalvage and the Sigilum Dei Aemyth (SDA). Or however you spell it. I'm thinking of making the Tablet of Nalvage smaller if necessary. Nine inches of wax is cool for the SDA, but I'm only making a 12"X12" table, I hope.

While I really love DuQuette's book, I'd rather use an SDA from an older manuscript. They're much easier to draw. I don't think Fr. POS would let me get away with that though. It would throw off our ability to compare notes as we go along.

One nice thing about doing Work with other magicians is that you are kept to a particular standard. He and Soror Gal have set the standard pretty high with their meticulous recreation of the Tablet of Nalvage. I don't want to learn the Enochian Alphabet. It's graceful, and I can barely print legibly. But I will, for the sake of SCIENCE!!! Or at least for the sake of having something comparable to their excellent work.

To god and His Spirits, I give thanks

Goetic Magic rocks.

Yesterday I got the final confirmation (a formality, really) that I will be starting a new job on Monday making a huge butt-load of cash. I've broken six figures now. So, thanks to Bune, thanks to my HGA, and thanks to God for revealing the path to financial well-being in spite of the economic down-turn.

And Och has kept me in cash since I've engraved that seal on my ring. Like literally, my wallet hasnt been empty since engraving the seal. Partially because I don't spend it all at once.

So, yeah, money magic. Give a donation here, carve a seal on a gold band there, and burn candles to a Goetic spirit on occassion. And be patient. I was freakin' out for a while there, but it didn't help.

Once again, I have found that you burn a candle to Bune and you get what you're looking for within a couple of weeks. Maybe having the spirit pot for him to hang out in helps, I dunno. Whatever. I'm doing pretty well. Thanks.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Why is a Christian helping a Pagan anyway?

Couple people have asked, so I'll tell you.

Joe doesn't tell you what you have to believe. He just helps. Like Mother Theresa.

Joe's been treated badly by Christians, personally. So have most Pagans. That's bullshit. Jesus wasn't like that. I want to remind Pagans of the message of Christ, that God loves you no matter what. No matter what.The Bible says God revealed himself to Pagans through their poetry and their philosophy (Acts 17:22-28). The Bible says Melchizedek was the forerunner of Jesus Christ, and guess what folks, Melchizedek wasn't Hebrew, didn't worship JHVH, and never heard of Jesus. He just worshipped "The Most High God" (Hebrews 7). It also says Christianity is for Christians and that only God (the holy spirit) can convert anyone. Our job is to love our neighbors as ourselves. That's it.

So in part, I'm trying to make up for my ignorant brothers. (Paul calls a lot of people "ignorant brothers" in the Bible. They've been around as long as Christ.)

Also, Jesus said that when you visit people in prison, you're visiting him. I don't do that. I don't have time, or even the inclination. But I have money, thanks to God's revelations about working with Goetic spirits throughout my life. That's something I can send out.

Another thing is compassion. I am an asshole, as many of my readers know. I don't like people in general. As individuals, most people are alright, and have some redeeming qualities. As a whole, we're an evil lot. I think prisoners are mostly there for good reason, and probably deserve worse. But I've been in jail a couple times. It sucks. I deserved it, and probably worse. I had a mommy and daddy to bail me out. They knew me better than the judge or cops did. They knew more about me than just the crimes I had committed. They saw past the criminal to the human underneath.

The key to the Great Work is found in "Knowing yourself." As a result, we tend to spend a lot of time being pretty self-centered. But the thing about the Great Work is that what we learn about ourselves is applicable to other humans too. It's a Solar understanding, or was for me. Some folks get it at Venus.

Regardless of where we learn it, we learn to see past the crime to the man who committed it, just as we learn to see past the our focus on Growth and Diminishment, the Devices of Evil, the Guiles of Desires, Domineering Arrogance, Daring and Rashness of Audacity, Striving for Wealth by evil means, and the Ensnaring Falsehoods of the realms of form as we ascend through the Spheres and Work with the Celestial Intelligences. I'll go into detail about those in the future,they're from the Divine Pymander, sections 24-26 if you're curious.

But the point is, as we perform the Great Work, ascending and descending in power as outlined in the Emerald Tablet, it's supposed to change us. It changes me. I don't just see criminals who deserve their punishment, I see myself and all the times I fucked up. I see in Joe all the people, my mommy and daddy, my kids, my online friends and father-in-law, all the folks who are there for me in spite of my bullshit, who give and help and guide and teach and show the way when I'm lost and miserable.

Does it matter that he's a pagan? No, it doesn't. He's someone I was lucky to meet through Fr. Bonehead's friendship. Since I know him, and I know he's doing something worthwhile, I'll spend some money on that. It's no big deal, really. I give to other charities too. Cops who get shot, Firemen who get burned, Vets missing limbs, Breast Cancer (the boobies you save may be the ones you love!),  and my Mom's fundy Christian ministry that focuses on getting abused women from Islamic countries to America where they can't have their noses cut off for burning dinner. Sure, they preach the love of Christ a lot as they're helping these women, but honestly, that's not so bad. A loving God is what they need to know about most, imho; Mom's got her issues, but she knows how to teach about the Love of God.

I hope it's coming across clearly. It's a mixture of love, respect, thanksgiving, compassion, and a degree or two of guilt. Joe doesn't guilt anyone. He was born and raised pagan, and he doesn't use the kind of Christian guilt tactics that I used in my previous post. That's great for him, but I'm not above motivating people to give out of guilt for being an asshole. Even a shitty thing like guilt can be turned around and used for good. That's the main lesson of the Great Work anyway. Turn the shit into something useful.

Some lame-ass bullsh**

For serious. Joe thanked me on his blog. I sent him less than 3% of what I make in a week, and he's the one that has to go to prison to help people.

I don't care what you people believe, whether you're Christian, Pagan, Atheist, or Buddhist. You're a human, and so are they. Help. Contact Joe to get info on helping his prison ministry a bit. Do something for someone else.

Joe says I gave him the most he's gotten from outside the ministry.
That's some sorry-ass bullshit. Take a buck or five out and mail it to Joe.

This is like the most basic money magic on the planet. You want to make some quick money? Give a little away to a good cause. It ain't rocket science. You plant a seed, it grows the fruit it came from. The basic formula of magic, take a symbol and do something symbolic with it. Fuckin' shit, man. Give some money away, and wow, it comes right back to you with interest.

I get a couple hundred people a day through here. Most of you are rich Americans. (No, not me, you say. I've got car payments, or tuition, or books to buy. Bullshit, you've got more money in your COUCH than some of the folks that email me from Brazil. Hell, you have a couch!)

Each of you take a sec and go through your change cup. You've got enough in your car to make a donation that would get those prisoners a smoke, a book, or something that reminds them that they are human and that there are other humans who give a shit about them just because they're human. You don't have to pay for everything Joe does alone. Send a little. Someone else will send a little too. But if you send NOTHING, you're an asshole. A cheap asshole. You spent more on your wand/crystal ball/latest Llewellyn Book than you've given to charity this year.

So many of you are so thrilled that you helped get a black man elected, oh yay for you; you voted. You want to talk HOPE? In prison, the hope is that you get out with your ass in tact, with as many teeth as you came in with, and hell, alive would be nice. 

Think about being a pagan in prison, where murderers with one tooth and nazi tattoos are the only people who've heard of FUTHARK, and you really don't want to talk to them about the Goddess, because it gives them a bulge in their pants. Think about a Wiccan priest coming to visit you in that hell, to talk, to teach, to listen, to give you care packages, to bring books on your faith. THINK about it. Use those visualization skills you've honed saying "AGLAH" a thousand times while drawing invisible blue pentagrams. Do something useful with it. Put yourself in another's shoes for a sec.

Picture it.

And then GIVE JOE SOME MONEY. Hell, he takes donations online at this site:

http://veritaswicca.com/CarcerVia.html

You can get the address by dropping him a line at that link, and you can mail him some money if you don't have a credit card. Take six quarters and an envelope to the grocery store, buy a stamp and get the cashier to give you a dollar for the quarters. Send him a buck and a note telling him your sorry for not helping more, because you damned well should.

And Christians: He's doing what Jesus told YOU (and me) to do. We ain't doing it. Least we can do is support him.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Things Wot Need to be Mentioned

There are over 10,000 Hells, it seems. The Mantises (Manti?) are restless. And the Hyenas are stalking. Fortunately, they're scavengers, so most of what they stalk is safe as long as it isn't dead.

You aren't dead, are you?

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

EDIT: On Kinetic Meditation

In the post from 10-30-08, I suggested using the concentric circles I posted and the names of God, Archangels, Seals, etc. of each of the sphere's aspects to perform a Kinetic Meditation.

In retrospect, I should have checked the graphics better. For one thing, there are too many circles. For another, the Names of God are wrong. :sigh:

Anyway, this is the corrected version. I corrected it in the other post, so there's no real evidence that I was ever wrong, but for those who tried it and ended up getting nothing, or something just not... quite... right (sorry about your finger exploding, not my fault, you should double check this stuff yourself!), here's the corrected graphic:

Monday, November 10, 2008

On free will and determinism


I now have conclusive proof that all things are predestinated, at least through July of 2038.

As we know, the present is what it is. Whatever happened before definitely did happen, and it caused what we are currently experiencing. If anything was different in the past, now wouldn't be what it is. Therefore everything that has happened must have happened for this to be what it is.

If Free Will were more than an illusion bred from ignorance and fear of the future, then the future could not exist until all things that we are still in the process of choosing had already been chosen. If anything came to us from the future, that would be conclusive proof that the future did indeed exist, and therefore the present potentials have already been reached.

I have in my inbox proof that there is a future. I have received emails from July of 2038. Apparently, some time in the next thirty years, they will not only master sending messages through time, but they will also cure erectile dysfunction and perfect genetic manipulation of male genitalia, leaving them with a surplus of viagra, cialis, and herbal supplements to enlarge a specific part of the male anatomy. They are selling them to us in their past to still be able to turn a profit.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Reminder: Today is Really Samhain

Last Friday was Halloween, but as Lavanah reminded (or in my case, "taught") us, today is the day that Samhain should be falling on.

ERGO! Re-review last Friday's blog post and see how that works out for you on a day when the sun is cross-quartered; if you didn't see the spirit you were looking for, try it again today when the veils between the worlds is truly thinnest.

And really, shouldn't we go trick-or-treating all over again? And light the candles in the gourds?

Not me, I'm a Christian... but we're not THAT far removed from you heathens. Scrape a little of the Holy Roman Patina off, and voila!

Anyway, I should get candy. That's all I'm sayin'.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

In answer to the Star Wars Post at Strategic Sorcery...

I had this image from somewhere on the 'net, and I've been meaning to post about it, but didn't have the context. Thanks to brother Inominandum's Star Wars-themed post at Strategic Sorcery, I have an excuse!

The piece is based on the OBEY art project's nationally famous Obama poster. It's pretty unrelated to magic, unless you understand the Gra'al quest is epitomized in Episodes 4-6, AND you equate that to the Great Work, AND you think that we are performing our own Gra'al Quest as we ritually conjure the experiences in life that result in the esoteric manifestations of the Alchemical Processes that create the Stone...

Hey, it's on topic after all, with very little stretching of the imagination. Thanks to Susanne and Stalking Hyena for the comments on the Animal Stone mentioned in the Ode to a Weasle post yesterday. That's why I was back at the Alchemy Web Site and could fit it into today's post.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Ode to a Weasle

"Rosco P. Coltrane" was the name to you we gave,
soon to be written in childe's scrawl above your garden grave.
"Pets die more oft' than people do," I told her as she cried,
it didn't help because to her more than a weasle died.
A friend, a toy, a pet, a joy, the girl had lost too much.
I held her as she sobbed and shook, and blubbered on, and such.

I do not understand, I'm sure, the pleasure she had found
in that smelly, creepy-looking thing that recently had drown'd.
So my silence I shall keep on this, I will not bitch or moan
or mention that we have a chance to make the Animal Stone.
For now, Rosco, I bid adieu, and hope the childe can bear it,
this grief your passing brought to us, so long you smelly ferret.

(C) 2008, Rufus Opus

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Admin note: Comments

Comments were acting weird today. I had switched the format a few weeks ago, and there were no problems, but today it went ker-put. I've changed the entry format, and it seems to be working now. If you had comments to make, feel free to make them now.

Why do we vote on Tuesdays?

Because it's War!

Voting is a Martial act. A revolutionary act. Every Vote we make as an American (or other) citizen is a declaration of War on tyranny. Regardless of the candidate elected, democracy wins against authoritarian regimes, monarchies, despotism, fascism, communism, oligarchies, and dictatorships.

You can see it at the voting booths. Doubt about the outcome, desire to be on the winning team, consternation about the lack of decent choices, hope that whatever happens, they'll be alright...

It's not the same as facing bullets, but the war rages on.

Now, what about other countries? What day do they vote on, and what does that tell us about how they perceive voting? Is it just America that has a Martial attitude about everything governmental? Are there any countries that vote on Fridays?

I voted!

For myself, of course. If you didn't click the AARP link the other day, you missed a campaign message from Yours Truly.

Rufus Opus in '08!

Now that this election business is about wrapped up, maybe we can get back to magic. In a few weeks, or months, I'll discuss some of the magic I performed in this year's election. Maybe. I kept silent about it because advertising your Work is just asking for some meat head who doesn't agree with you to come along and Work against you. With all the awareness of retroactive magic going on, it may be more prudent to just keep mum about it in general.

Heading out to vote

Ah! Blessed Libertas! Hail to thee, and all thy Works that have freed me from Evil Tyrrany! If it weren't for Lady Libertas, we'd still be frickin' Brittish. :shudder:

Liberty, folks. Americans have bled and died for the right to vote. Support our troops, your bumper sticker reads? Get out and VOTE! Have an opinon on the candidates? Make it mean something, get out and VOTE! Earn a right to your opinion: Get the fuck out and VOTE!

I don't give two shits in a hat who you vote for. I mean, I have MY PREFERENCES, but you know, it's the VOTE that makes being an American meaningful.

For years I didn't vote because I believed it didn't matter. Either way, the corporations/special interests win. While that's true to a degree, it's just a cop out. I pontificated about my political stance and did NOTHING to make a difference. Voting might be the least effective thing you can do to champion your personal cause(s) in government, but it's a hell of a lot more than I was doing. I don't organize activist meetings, I don't contribute to my favored candidates, I don't even use my blog (much) to influence others to my perspective. I like to think Magic(k) transcends politics.

But the least I can do is VOTE. So regardless of whether you're a McSamite or Obamatic, get out and VOTE.

FYI: I have very little control over what ads appear on my site. Fr. BH mentioned that an ad for a proposition that I don't support popped up on his version of my page. I have since blocked that domain from advertising here, but God knows they're pumping their money into Google's adsense to influence folks. If you see ads for stuff that you don't like, it's not my fault. If you really want to hurt the people that are advertising things you don't want to see, one sneaky method would be to click their links. Each click costs them money; the more they bid to get their ad displayed, the more it costs per click they get. When they run out of money, their ads won't pop up anywhere. I'm sure they've got millions, so to implement this kind of strategy, one would need to click the ads a few hundred times.

Just remember, I only display ads to make money. I don't necessarily support, condone, or stand in opposition to the services, beliefs, or goals of those that pay to advertise here. If you see an ad that you don't think belongs here, let me know and if I agree with you, I'll block their domain.

If you use Google ads to monetize your site: To filter ads, go to Google Adsense, Adsense Setup, and then click "Competitive Ad Filter." Type the domain of the advertiser you don't want to have access to your site in the big old text box in the middle of the page. There's online help if that doesn't give you enough detail.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Before you vote, please consider...

I really wasn't going to make my personal candidate the focus of the blog at all. I figured God wouldn't let that other idiot win.

But things just aren't looking that good for my candidate. So please, if you've ever thought I had anything decent to say, or if you've ever gotten a chuckle at some observation I've made, please, take the time to look at this AARP video, and just be open as you watch the video. Think about the message. I just hope some part of you is still able to respond to it before it's too late and that pinhead gets elected.

http://aarpvote08.com/?d=UnVmdXMgT3B1cw==