Produco

Should Google's text ad business be regulated?

2008-05-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

I think so, they control 68% of the text search ads in the web (and growing) and only they get to decide what to show and what not to show. For example, I work for a small cigar retailer, Fumee, we started as an e-commerce business and we are now in the process of opening a brick and mortar store. However, we are limited severely from using search advertising online because Google does not allow the purchase of ads to promote tobacco (among many other things, such as guns, porn, etc.). If it was just one company amongst many we could ignore them and use MSN or Yahoo, but these two services are so small and bad that the resulting clicks and impressions are much smaller compared with Google. Not using Google effectively limits us to 32% of the market.

Obviously, Google has good reason to not allow the types of ads they block. Anyone can argue that smoking is detrimental to one's health and should be discouraged. That may be true, but "fast food" is a phrase you can advertise with, I bet more people die from it than tobacco (maybe just cigars specifically). Shit, you can even buy adwords for "cocaine" and "weed". I don't think all these should be ban, I think people should have full access to any information and should make up their minds accordingly.

Maybe it is best not to have ads for tobacco, or weed, or fast food, but if one company controls most of the market in search ads those decisions should not be made by them, they should be made through the political process where all parts of society can have a say, even small businesses like the one I work for.

Hit and Run

2008-05-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

I was just jogging in Austin, at the corner of 183 and I-35 when someone in a dark green minivan hit me as he was getting out the Victory Christian Center. Nothing happened to me. He came out without stopping, must have been thinking I would stop, cause there is no trees, fences or other obstructions, and I ran into the side of his car as he abruptly pulled in front of me. I pushed myself off the moving car and got spun around, but nothing else.

Now, I too see the irony of some dumbass hitting me coming out of the Christian Center, but what pissed me off is that he didn't bother to stop to apologize of see if I was ok. I was starring at the back of his car, did he not think I wouldn't see his license plate? Well, I did, and called the cops. Hopefully this will teach him a lesson.

I can't be too mad at him for hitting me, since I pull out of driveways recklessly without looking both ways all the time, but if I ever hit anyone, I would surely stop, get out and at least make sure they were ok.

Alec Bradley Maxx Traditional

2008-05-10T02:14:00.000-07:00

Just smoked the Alec Bradley Maxx Traditional. I don't think this cigar is out yet, but we got a sample, it was a great smoke. I think one of the best cigars I have had. Reminds me, I need to get a lighter, whenever I smoke the cigars always keep going out on me, and I waste a ton of matches re-lighting them. Anyways, the size I had was something like a double corona, the smoke was nice and cool when it reached your mouth until the very end. The cigar smelled and looked much darker than it tasted, when this thing comes out you should give it a try.

The Economist on US race relations

2008-05-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

WTF, do we really need a British paper to educate us on US race relations? Apparently, since the mainstream US media is too busy covering Rev. Wright's remarks. Check out these two very good articles from The Economist:

Nearer to overcoming - Talks about the different views on race held by Blacks and White in the US. How much progress the country has made in the 40 years since the Civil Rights movement, and how much more there is still to be done.

The big remaining question - Talks about how much Obama's color will affect him in November and if enough of the general public, which is whiter and more conservative than the Democratic electorate, will vote for him, and how much his skin color will affect it.

Both of these articles tackle huge questions and issues facing US color relations. I simply do not see enough of a conversation about this in the US. When it is done it is regarding subjects such as Rev. Wright and extremist minority voices that are obviously out of the mainstream. Wright is obviously a bigot in his own right and should not be given a national televised platform to talk non-sense, nor should anyone insinuate or try to connect Obama who for the most part seems like a sensible person with his wacky ideas.

We should instead be talking about why so many blacks and latinos drop out of high school. Why blacks who study are put down by their peers. Why most of the role models for young blacks are either sports players or wanna be gangsters.

Maybe the NYTimes or Newsweek can pick up that discussion.

Getting ready for work, the other...

2008-05-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

Just thinking about needing to go to work. I work part-time at night at North in Austin. It is a nice semi-upscale restaurant located in The Domain, an upscale mix-purpose development.

I have been working there part-time while we get ready to open our retail store for Fumee, but lately I have been hating my customers, more and more. Below are some of the things that bother me the most:

1. Foreigners - I love visiting new countries and meeting new people, I really do. But, please, understand that here in the US, unlike any other country in the world servers are paid with tips, a minimum of 12%, and average of 15%. If you come to the US, and please do so, go out, have fun, a couple of drinks, but please tip your waiter 15% of the bill, after tax, no excuses...

2. People who talk when I am trying to get their order - I really don't want to be in front of you, or be your friend, or take more of your time than the 5 seconds it takes for you to tell me you want a White Zinfandale (which we don't carry, more on wine in later postings). If you as a group is talking, and your waiter comes to your table, stop blabbing, look at him, smile back, tell him what you want, he will leave before you know it.

3. If you go out have fun - Relax, you are in a restaurant, there is alcohol, chill, smile. Don't be mad at your waiter, I had a lady ask me last week "why did my bf brake up with me", all I could do was slowly shake my head... I don't know, maybe it was that she was "out of shape" or that she asked dumb questions. Who knows. I don't. That's for sure.

Just smoked a Camacho Corojo Jamistran

2008-05-07T21:18:00.001-07:00

Smoking is like drinking, cigars at least, it sounds like an awesome idea, and it relaxes and calms you down, but I am such a newby that I get headaches and feel bad afterwards every time. Sucks for me, oh well, I'll likely never learn.

Religion...

2006-12-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

Such a tricky thing. People take it quite serious, as well they should if their eternal life is at stake. It is today's topic because I have been reading a lot of articles about it in the last couple of days. Obviously the article in my December 21st entry dealt with religious issues like free will and determinism, but I will explore the concept of religion itself (religion meaning organized sects such as Christianity/Islam/Judaism), as a reward for possibly upsetting the 95% of the world who believes in a higher being I will leave you with 2 articles that deal with the issue from a perspective those "believers" might agree with.

I could, of course, spend the rest of my life writing about religion and not achieve one thing. Besides, every society will have to produce their own answers and relation with organized religion: the French have their laïcité while we Americans write "In God We Trust" on our bills.

It is my opinion that here in the US we should have the right to believe and not believe what we choose. Furthermore, I think those that push to include god or religion in our public discourse and let it guide our government (as opposed to their own personal actions) are making a mistake which will ultimately backfire. If today you let one version of Christianity dictate what actions are sanctioned/or not by the government (example: using contraceptives) what is to keep those same powers from being turned on Christian's belief and actions when public opinion or political power shifts. What if in 50 years America is so agnostic that we say you cannot spend more than 1 hour a week in church (you should instead be enjoying the little time you have here in Earth) or we decide to tax churches like any business (after it all they provide a service)?

The US was founded partly by groups that escaped persecution in Europe (they did not want other's religion dictating their personal choices), it would be quite ironic if the descendants of those groups now forgot that lesson.

Article(s) of the Day:
My problem with Christianism by Andrew Sullivan
The problem with secularism by Phillip Blond and Adrian Pabst

CNN...

2006-12-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

Since I talked to Heather about the merits of posting/writing blogs, I have decided to bitch about things that bother me. I make the life of everyone who I know miserable doing it, so I might as well make everyone else's.

To begin, I will lament how far CNN has fallen (yes, possibly below Fox News). Today's main coverage? Trump-Rosie fight and an interview with some guy who taped teenagers beating up his x-mas decorations. Boo-wup. That's a far cry from what CNN used to be, remember... when they had international news... when the business section consisted of M&A's instead of advice on buying a white or black ipod?

I'll probably bitch a lot about CNN, well at least when I come into work since that's what they have in the break room. Specially if I see Lou Dobbs... nuff said about him.

Article of the day: http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8453850