While I was sitting on the train this morning, I saw an elderly Chinese woman jogging slowly backwards down the path alongside the railway line.

It confused the hell out of me. It made me wonder if the train was going forwards or backwards. Then I thought maybe this is one of those moments in The Matrix where you see the glitch in the program - like when Neo sees the cat walk by twice.

Was I really here? I started to wonder. I wondered if this was the part where Morpheus turns up and gives me the red pill.

I glanced back at the woman jogging slowly backwards in the distance.

I decided it was probably some form of Qigong that I'm not familiar with. Maybe someone should tell her not to do it so close to a train moving in the opposite direction, for fear of sparking existential questioning / brain melting.

I spotted a copy of MX Magazine on the seat in front of me. It got me thinking.

I remember a time when it was frowned upon to read the Herald Sun, the inferior sports-heavy tabloid to The Age's comprehensive broadsheet. The only acceptable excuse for buying it being that "The Age" was sold out at the newsstand.

Now people read it like it's "The News".

Andrew Bolt?

The man is a FOX News version of "Fair and Balanced".

So, now with people like Bolt slowly acclimatising Australia to the view that the ABC, The Age, Big Ted, Bananas in Pyjamas and maybe even The Wiggles favour left-wing political views, we are all in deep crap.



Again I return to the MX Magazine sitting in front of me. It seems compulsory to read it. It's free and provided in abundance at train stations. Everyone else is reading it. Everybody.

Join us!!!!!!!!! (sinister hissing)

I can't.
I can't do it.

MX Magazine is a dumbed down, Readers' Digest Condensed Book version of the already dumbed down Herald Sun. What's next? We are handed a paper at the station and instead of the headline reading:

"Victorian Bushfire Season Reaches New Heights"

we read

"UG. BIG FIRE."

There is an alternative. Join your local (lefty, pinko, greenie) library, while we still have them - borrow some books and read them on the train. You can expand your mind instead of losing much needed brain cells on the rules of barbeque ettiquette.

I have added Link Referral in a category all on its own. Yes, it is a link exchange program - and a very effective one at that. The best feature are the reviews - you can review others for credit and you will receive reviews from other members. It is a great way to keep on top of your site - what works, what doesn't work.

I have taken a lot from advice from these reviews and it has helped to improve my site. Special thanks to the person who told me the text in my sidebars was microscopic.

Rating: Highly Recommended 9/10

I have been trying out the following traffic exchange sites for around 4-6 months:

BlogExplosion
BlogMad
BlogSoldiers
ClickThru
MyTrafficBlast
Traffic Swarm

The Winners and Losers:

Blog Soldiers 9/10

And the winner is...Blog Soldiers.
It is the easiest to use and the constant improvements are impressive.
The ratio used to be for every 2 blogs you visit, 1 will visit yours (surf ratio 0.5).
Now it has increased so for every blog you visit, your surf ratio is 0.75
My favourite thing about Blog Soldiers is the ease of use. And the pretty pictures you are required to click on to earn credits.


Blog Mad 8.5/10

Very close second is Blog Mad. The ratio is actually better than Blog Soldiers - 1:1
You can't get much better than that!! I just don't like the clicky thing as much. Isn't that silly? Well, no, not if you are sitting there like a zombie for hours on end surfing sites for credit!


Blog Explosion 8/10

Love Blog Explosion. I have got a lot of traffic from Blog Explosion, it's just not as intuitive to use as Blog Mad and Blog Soldiers. I had a bit of trouble working out how to get credits, the banner upload was ridiculous (it just didn't work. About 7 times - probably not their fault though!!)
Overall, Blog Explosion is definitely worth it. For a small amount of time surfing you seem to get quite a lot of traffic.


Traffic Swarm 7/10

Traffic Swarm is good too.
The main drawback for me is that this is not a "blog only" traffic site. So you get the inevitable "Click here we can make you rich ask me how and more importantly ask me why I'm here jumping up and down talking to you instead of sailing off in that yacht behind me in the picture..."
Apart from the get rich quick stuff, the traffic thing is good.


My Traffic Blast 4/10

Okay, somebody enlighten me here. I have no idea what to do with this one. It confuses the heck out of me. I managed to navigate through the "click here" stuff to the members area, only to be confronted by a dog's breakfast of information. I have no idea what this site is doing for me (if anything). I have no idea how to earn credits, except for buying them.
However I did check my stats and I got a heap of people from My Traffic Blast. So it must be doing something. I just don't know what.


Click Thru 2/10

Hmmm. This was an easy decision for me, might not be for others. I got a large amount of traffic from Click Thru. The reason why I have rated it so poorly? The "tasks" section made me encounter a horrible sight that took days to get out of my system. I still get a cold chill thinking about it. Click Thru's policy allows illegal and offensive material. This was both. I don't even know if the person in the picture was still alive. All I know is I won't forget it. I have since deleted my account and taken the links off my site.

There is also an unknown quantity lurking in the background. It's called ExLinks.

Just another traffic program? Nobody knows. But everybody who's anybody seems to want to sign up. A good start for a traffic program, I think.

Firstly, I want to pause for a second to reflect on the exorbitant cost of universal remote controls.

Okay.

Now, here is the One For All Universal Remote Control I bought for $59.95 (!?!?!?!?!?)



Note that the catchphrase of this remote is "keeping it simple..."

At the time I found that statement reassuring.

And they are simple.

If you categorise simple as straining your eyes for 30 minutes trying to read the multitude of codes listed for your brand of television. And trying to keep the murder out of your voice when you say "Nope. Must be the next one."

If you have a Teac TV, for example, and you don't have an owners manual - you are pretty much stuffed.

Oh, the simplicity of leafing through what looks like 500 4-digit codes, diligently programming each one in, clutching to the vain hope that THIS one might be "the one"....

And finally, the magic code clicked into place. But instead solving a rubix cube, I ended up opening the box from "Hellraiser".



You see, if in a moment of distraction, you don't press the button marked "TV", you can make the video recorder go crazy.

I remember looking up to see something like "ARGH19273" flashing in the display panel.

So then you finally get it back on "TV" and the mute button doesn't work.

The most important button on a TV remote control is the mute button, so you can block out the ads. Now I was at the mercy of advertisers.

"How do I know if my health insurance is right for me?"
"Incontinence is a problem that is often hidden..."
"Kids love the goodness of sugar cream fizz puff breakfast cereal..."

ARGHGH!!

But this is all easily fixed of course.

All you have to do is find some toll-free number (I think it is in the manual
but it could be on the packet?!?!), call them up and tell them the code that you used
(er...I can't remember!) to activate the control and they will tell you the code for the
mute button.

So now I have a $59.95 TV ornament. Or a paperweight.

The solution is simple.

Don't lose / break / let your dog eat your remote. Then you won't need to buy one of these contraptions.

Panasonic DVD Player
(Model No: DVD-S32)
RRP $139 AUD

I got this DVD Player for $128.00 at Dick Smith Electronics. It’s pretty lightweight so I decided to carry it disguised in a large plastic bag for a nervous peak-hour journey on the train.

Here are my thoughts on the features:

Multi Format Playback: DVD +R?RW,-R?RW, CD-R?RW, MP3,WMA & JPEG
It does have its limitations – it won’t play DVD-Rs recorded on a computer, just DVDCamcorder recordings


Easy to Operate
I can attest to this. It was amazing. This DVD player works the way all electronic appliances should work. You plug it in, turn it on, and it works!!

Honestly, in the past I have needed some kind of post-graduate degree in advanced electronics to tune in the video player, or get the dang thing to record! @$#^%#$%!


108MHz?12-bit Video DAC & PAL Progressive
Ok, I don’t know what this means, but I know progressive scan is good.


High quality picture
The picture is crystal clear!


Increased functionality through revised remote control
It’s great. I like the way you can switch from letterbox format, zoom in. It’s pretty cool.


Dimensions (WxHxD): 430mm x 43mm x 248mm
Yep, it’s thin and unobtrusive. I was worried about how it would look because it was competing for space with a video recorder and a PlayStation 2. Don’t know why I worried because you can hardly tell it’s there.


Colour: Silver
Hi-yo Silver away!!

...sorry about that last one.