Month: July 2005

Dear People

I have been given the task of getting links for our websites that have good page rank on the links directories.
In addition we have many categories so your site will be place on an appropriate page.

If you would like to trade links please send me your website details.
If you are not the right person please pass this on to your webmaster.

Best Regards,
Helen Williams

Dear Robotic Spammer (Ms. Williams),

Sites with good page ranks have them, in part, because they do not participate in shady deals like you are talking about. Additionally, on the completely unlikely chance that this was supposed to be a legitimate offer; spamming my email via my contact form and queuing up a a torrent of comment spam in my blogs moderation queue is NOT the way to get me to cooperate with you. In fact, all it will do is get you added to my email’s spam filters and added to my blog’s comment blacklist.

Best Regards,
Mark

Product Image: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)
My rating: 4 out of 5.

After a two year wait, Ms. Rowling has finally released her latest book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6).1 It’s a bit shorter than her previous book but it’s quality not quantity we’re after and the Half-Blood Prince delivers.

Rather than continuing with Harry being an angsty, little brat; Ms. Rowling gives him a bit of a fresh start. As usual, the story starts off at the Dursleys but these child abusers are quickly left behind as Harry heads off to Hogwarts. On the train, Harry meets the new professor joining Hogwarts and begins his various misadventures. As you’ve probably heard already, another charater dies in this book2 and it wasn’t who I was expecting it to be. Though if you’re paying attenion as you read the book; there is enough foreshadowing for one to figure it out. Additionally, the identity of the half-blood prince is pretty obvious; if you think about it using the clues Ms. Rowling gives during the course of the book.3

Though I’m not convinced Ms. Rowling will be able to redeem the series after the wretchedness of the previous book; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) is definitely a step in the right direction.

1 Technically, she released it a week ago but I only just got around to reading it.
2 Actually, many characters get snuffed out in this book but most of them are just names in the Daily Prophet. The character I’m referring to is somebody who’s been in all the previous books.
3 As usual, I got caught up in the story so both the identity of the half-blood prince and the death caught me off guard.

Surprise, there weren’t any links from Pukka this week1 but I did run across a few worth noting:

  • Google Moon: “In honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, we’ve added some NASA imagery to the Google Maps interface to help you pay your own visit to our celestial neighbor.” Zoom all the way in to find out one of the moon’s secrets.
  • PhotoMuse: “An ambitious project to create one of the largest freely accessible databases of masterwork photography anywhere on the Web, a venture that will bring their collections to much greater public notice and provide an immense resource for photography aficionados, both scholars and amateurs.” Found via the New York Times
  • Hacker Erased Spammer’s Database

1 Come to think of it, I’m not sure he was even in the office this week.