In his popular free eBook describing his success to raise profit from his blog, John Chow recommends some ad network and affiliate program he uses. They were chosen from a list of 130 ad network he use at one time and another. Beside their good service and support, John Chow stresses their ability to commit on time payments. Here is the money-makers list:

Kontera ContentLink

This ad network allows you to make money from online advertising even without giving up any advertising spots, i.e. banner, widget, etc. Kontera will only read your post and turns certain words into an ad. The highlightened words will be double underlined and showed pop up ads when your site visitor hover it.

Although Kontera normally require a site have minimum 500.000 page view per month, John Chow partnership with Kontera, enable smaller blogger, like meJ, to use ContentLink service.

Text Link Ads

The best of Text Link Ad is the link just offer advertisers traffic and search engine benefit. Readers of our blog don’t seem mind since they are not intrusive. Your link price is set by Text Link Ads, based on traffic, page rank and RSS subscribers.

Google AdSense

Even a John Chow still recommend ad service from big brother Google. Being a pioneer in ad network, Google known to be a consistent money maker from small blogger to professional full time blogger. Google simply display simple text and image ads on your blog that are based on what you are writing about.

Bidvertiser

Google AdSense now has potential competitor. Bidvertizer can pay their publisher with low limit payout, $10. This advantage would be interested for small blog, again like me, since it doesn’t have to wait that long as in Google AdSense which limits the pay out level $100.

AuctionAds

As one big eBay affiliate, Auction Ads put all their publishers into one big “collective” to go after the higher revenue share. Though right now affiliates will get 100% of any money they make from the system, as the collective moves up the eBay revenue share tiers, AuctionAds will start to take a cut of revenues.

ReviewMe

It is a sponsored review. Write a review from advertisers in your blog, and get paid, it’s that simple. However, how much you going to be paid are determined by your Alexa, Technocrati and RSS status.

TTZ Media

This is an ad network owned by John Chow himself. TTZ media use keywords based ads to show a list of online stores where related products can be purchased.

Feedburner Ad Network

FeedBurner just acquired by Google. The giant Google AdSense network can be seen in feeds provided by FeedBurner. The option to pick extra money from the net now available by monetizing your RSS feeds

Deal Dot Com

As an affiliate program, this ads network quite different than the other. Deal Dot Com offers until two-tier affiliate program. It means, you get a chance to collect affiliate bonus until two level of reference. For the firs level, you will collect 35%, while for the second level you will collect 15% commission. Even better, unlike AuctionAds that place a time limit (5% for 6 months) to your commission, Deal Dot Com doesn’t. You will still get the commission last forever even your referral buy something tomorrow or years from now.

So, which one is your choice? Me? Hmmm, let me think about it for a while…

Reference: “Make Money Online with John Chow”

To download John Chow’s e-book, go to here

Wordpress, the publishing tool I use, allows for the use of categories, such as ~meh~, geek, rant, and anything else you can think up. I’ve posted a few to each and thought I had all my bases covered. I didn’t. I added Famous/Infamous today. Why? Well, we’re a media obsessed culture. that and it’s fun to make fun of people the spotlight happens to be on.

Dana also gets People, Us, and other publications each week.

And really, can these people be any easier fodder for ridicule? It’s like the guy who comes to work on Halloween wearing the full vintage Star Trek officer costume. Sure, it was probably expensive, details were not left out, and really, the stigma of the I.T. geek as a fan of sci-fi is kinda over, isn’t it? But when the guy in the Star Trek outfit is the only guy who dressed up for Halloween, it’s kinda hard not to make a point of it.

And with that, I bring you this…

Separated at birth?

Oh, man.
Liberal idealism at it’s best. Sean Penn story right here.
Besides the boat sinking moments after launching, this was my favorite sentence:

The actor, known for his political activism, was seen wearing what appeared to be a white flak jacket and frantically bailing water out of the sinking vessel with a red plastic cup.

Of course, I read it slightly different:

“The actor, known for his un-thought-out tirades against common sense, was seen wearing what appeared to be a string of plastic beads and frantically bailing water out of the sinking vessel with a red plastic cup that he found floating in the hand of a dead hooker.
Witnesses reported Sean Penn later punching out an orphan, knocking a photographer unconscious, and then throwing a half-empty bourbon bottle at a picture of Madonna.”

Ya, that’s about right.

Not sure if anyone out there has been checking this guy out. I caught wind of him through Xeni over at boingboing.net
He’s working at a colo/hosting company in the middle of New Orleans. They are still operational. Read the entire story here. I don’t know if I should call it moving, shocking, or what, but just read the reports from the front lines.

This is one of the reasons the American public don’t trust you.
Image depicts 2 NOLA cops looting a store instead of keeping others from looting. And it’s not like they are looting water, medicine, non-perishable food items, it’s clothing and shoes.

Another image depicts yet another cop with essential supplies (DVD’s). Click for larger image and accompanying text.

Note to the person with the green truck looting the computer. It’s an eMachine. The joke is on you.

Speaking of Movies, I really ought to write reviews of them, as we watch them every weekend. This past weekend we rented M. Night Shamalamadingdong’s “The Village.”
Boy howdy.
M. Night Shampoorinserepeat seems to have turned himself into a one trick pony. Let’s go over the movies he’s made…
The Sixth Sense. Okay, good flick. Made me jump a few times. Nice surprise ending. Unfortunate rise into stardom of Haley Joel Osment.
Unbreakable. This one I also liked. A superhero film with the superhero. I could have actually handled a sequel to this one, but it’s probably best without one. Hey! Look! A surprise ending!
Signs. Corn corn corn corn. MEL GIBSON! Crop circle here, hey! I’m talking to you, Joaquin Phoenix! Kids, dog, faith based doubts of belief in higher being. More cute kids. More doubt. WHUMP! Doubt, anger, blah blah blah. Was the ending supposed to be a surprise? It sure didn’t surprise me. Meh.
The Village. Hey! It’s a long time ago! (25 seconds later) “Betcha it’s not a long time ago.” (about 100 some minutes later) “Yup. Knew it.”I had actually been privvy to this information, but Dana guessed it right away. I didn’t tell her I knew, but it was pretty easy to tell. The only thing I was curious about were the lack of contrails from planes flying overhead, and how this quaint little valley wasn’t a subdivision yet.
The everything is not as it seems “surprise” ending is about the same as “it as all a dream.” It’s so belittling a film that I stopped feeling bad about butchering the director’s name. You know, M. Night Salamisandwich. Okay. That’s enough.
The last one was lame.
Okay, so on to the next. Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. It’s your standard sophomoric buddy road trip getting high adolescent potty humor dumb stereotyping not exactly good comedy.
I thought it was the funniest movie I’ve seen in years. Seriously. I just laughed and laughed and laughed. I actually paused it once to finish laughing. Obviously it rips off several films. The singing in the car to the lame song from Tommy Boy. The pot reference from everything like Half Baked to all the Cheech and Chong films. The shy geek who gets the girl from virtually every John Hughes film. The messy roomate and the clean one from the Odd Couple.
But still, we both found it funny. The dog even laughed. So lower your expectations, have a few beers, and watch this film.
Now, Napoleon Dynamite. It’s a misfit paradise. Starting off, you have a rural community. Now you add in a high school. Toss in the awkward people, and stir.
No, strike that. I hate those reviews where they make it seem like they’re doing a recipe.
Initially, it seems as though several characters were recycled from Revenge of The Nerds, but you realize this is not the case shortly into the film. I can’t really recommend the film, nor can I not recommend it. There’s the geeky post-pubescent inelegance of the high school nerd (Napoleon), his immigrant friend (Pedro), the I Can’t Believe He’s Even More Pale palor of older brother Kip, and of course, Former Jock Living In A Van Get Rich Quick Scheming Uncle Rico.
It’s one of those slice of life films that make you take a look back to the parts of high school and the following years that you probably don’t think about much any more, or more likely, pretend never existed. It’s also one of those films that will spawn a thousand soundboards and .wav files that will be played as email notifiers in your office for the next year or so.
The laughable absurdity of individual scenes and lines will make you squirm a bit in your seat, but also laugh, not always out loud, but laugh nonetheless. The laugh out loud funniest moment for me was the farmer, the school bus and the cow. Most of the movie will be remembered for individual snippets. A Liger. Rico throwing the meat at Napoleon. LaFawnduh and Kip (pretty much all their scenes). (also, watch through the credits for their wedding at the end) And, of course, Napoleon’s big dance number. Yes,, you heard me right, Napoleon’s big dance number.
All that said, rent it and see for yourself. It’s either loved or hated.
Enough for now. Don’t forget to send in your Oscar picks.

You ‘ve got to check out this auction by a bitter, bitter man. I’m certainly glad I’m not this kind of angry person, but I do appreciate his sense of humor.
Linky linky.

Well, there’s a lot going on. It’s late for me. I’m watching the MTV Video Music Awards on DVR right now (the only way to watch, too many commercials).
Observations on that:
John Kerry’s daughters are greeted with cheers and jeers. I thought this market was all democrats?
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s speech at the RNC… uplifting.The Gap commercial’s with Sarica Jessica Pakerca and Lenny Kravitz… most cool. How cool can you be to be a black rocker with the name of Lenny and just really rock out with former Sex and The City Girl Carrie Bradshaw for a clothing line I despise and still wear and look so good doing it?
The Bush’s daughters, not greeted with laughter or boo’s, on MTV? They were abyssmal at the RNC, but stated a strong bi-partisan message on MTV? huh?
Christina Aguilera… (a name in itself that ought to be some sort of disease of the lower abdominal area) performing with… uh… well…. some sort of rapper dude, once again performing a grandiose display of her vocal talent. Really, the woman should have been a jazz or blues singer and she would have been most awsesome, but jazz and blues don’t sell like pop music does. A shame, really. She has incredible vocal range and it’s sad she’s had to subject herslef to what she’s been forced to become just to get that voice recognized. As American’s, we havent heard that sort of range since Billy or Ella was around, and it’s a shame we have to see it done in such a tawdry manor.

On to the worst part of the news… Friday, I bury a friend, too soon for his time. Michael Arps was a co-worker of mine. A friend. A guy who I shared conversations with. A smoking buddy. One of the guys I shared a few beers with. Mike got married when I got married, we hung around the same crowd, went to the same bar, smoked together, drank together, showed up at work together at the same time. We shared a lot. We had conversations about plenty of things together. We spent a lot of time together.
But now Mike is gone. And the world is poorer for it. He was smart. He was young. He loved his new bride, for whom he was still fighting for her to get American citizenship. He just got his Master’s Degree. He just got the big promotion to Senior Technical Architect.
He was 33.

Mike, I still can’t believe you’re gone. I remember you trying to run me down in that Mikey way of yours last Wednesday morning. I loved hanging out with you at the Frederick J. Miller Pub and at O’Briens on random nights over the last several years. I remember talking to you about your struggles with getting Emily over here. I will never forget you, Mike.
I’ll see you again, Arps. And next time, I’ll be the first to say “S’up, baby?!?”

The food there is awful, and the “wings” they have are, in my opinion, the world’s worst. If you want to impress your friends with your skills, try my wing recipe. It’s simple, take minimal preparation, and they just rock.
What you’ll need:
Chicken wings, either whole or already cut into the wing and drum sections. I usually cook up about 3 pounds at a time. I’ve tried fresh and frozen, and fresh always works better.
Worcester sauce. I use Lea and Perrin’s.
Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. Get a nice big bottle.
Vinegar, distilled white. You use this to cut out the heat and add the vinegar flavor.
West Indies Barbeque Seasoning. Get it online or go into one of their locations. I go to the one in Tosa.
Okay, let’s start. If you’re using whole chicken wings, cut the little end piece off and get rid of it. Then chop the drumstick part from the wing part. Rinse the chicken, and place in a non-reactive casserole dish in an even layer. You might need more than one dish, depending on how many wings you use. Next, pour in the Worcester sauce to cover the wings. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour and a maximum of three hours.After that time has passed, remove the wings from the casserole dish, rinse out and dry the dish, and put the wings back in using the same single layer that you used before. Now use the barbeque seasoning. Sprinkle it on the chicken liberally, on both sides. Cover again and let refrigerate for at least one hour, but better if you let it go for more. It gets really tasty at 3-4 hours.
Once you’re ready to go, start up the grill. I have a two-tiered grill, and I always place the wings on the top shelf. They’re further from the flame, but they get the all around heat due to the shape of the grill’s lid. Cook them on low, turning every 10 minutes or so. The timing will depend on your grill. Get to know your grill, and you’ll be able to cook anything on it.
Wings on my grill usually take just short of an hour on low. I try to keep the cover closed as much as possible, but being mindful enough to check the wings and turn them (with a pair of tongs, they’ll be important later) when ready. Make wings a few times and you’ll get to know when it’s time. Once the wings have been cooked most of the way through, it’s time to bring the heat to them. Get the Frank’s Red Hot sauce and Vinegar ready. I use a small bowl, which I usually mix three parts Frank’s with one part Vinegar, for the sauce. Using the tongs, take a decent sized wing out, dip it in the sauce mixture and use that to dab the other wings with. Get them all covered well, close the lid, cook them for a few minutes, flip them all over and repeat the sauce dabbing thing. I usually give them a few doses of the sauce, about 2 on each side, then serve them up.
See, what’s nice about this is that when it comes time to clean up, you have your casserole dish, the tongs, and the bowl. Perhaps a platter if you decide to serve them on one, but hey, wings go great with beer, and who wants to clean up after pounding a few ice cold brews? Use paper plates, man.
Optional items to go with these wings are blue cheese dressing, ranch dressing, and celery sticks. I like mine with ranch, celery, and definately a nice cold beer. I recommend a pilsner, like Miller High Life, Lakefront’s Klisch Pilsner, Rolling Rock, or anything else easy drinking and smooth. For you non-beer drinkers who can’t handle the heat, keep some milk handy because it cuts the heat.
Enjoy!

I had heard about grilling pizza, but never tried it until my friend Ron made some up. His was a simple margarita pizza (basil, cheese, tomato) and was simply awesome. Of course, Ron’s a veritable gourmet. I’m not as good as him with food, but my years in the restaurant industry did leave somewhat of an impression on me as to how to prepare food.
Anyway, back to the pizza. This is simple enough that anyone can do it and it is also so impressive looking and tasting you’ll always win over anyone you make it for. Use any ingredients you want, but I’ve found this combo to be very tasty. This is what you’ll need:
Pizza dough (use a mix, make your own, or buy the refrigerated tube kind)
1 can of enchilada sauce
1 pound of ground beef
Taco seasoning mix
Can of refried beans
12 oz. package of “Mexican” cheese. This is usually a Montery Jack blend, but use what you want.
Green onions, sliced
Black olives, sliced
1 medium tomato, diced
Get your toppings ready, slice the onions and the tomato and open any cans (olives, sauce, beans). Brown the beef and add the saesonings per the instructions on the taco seasonings package. Heat up the beans ina small saucepan. Set everything aside.

Let’s start with the dough. I prefer using a mix, it’s simple and easy. I have used the pre-made kind that comes in one of those tubes, but I think I’ve had better results with the mixes. All you need to do with the mix is add water, so it’s not that hard. Work with both and choose your own method. Roll out the dough into whatever shape you want. I prefer 12? by 12? squares, as they’re easiest to work with and fit nicely on the grill. Take the dough and put it on a large plate that has a little flour on it so you can work with it better. Get your grill good and hot and oil the grate. Before I put the dough on the grill, I turn my gas (yes, I use propane. it’s just easier) down to medium-low. Put the dough on the grill and straighten it out so you don’t have any wrinkles. Now wait a few minutes and flip the dough over and cook the other side. How long you have to wait will depend on your grill, but a good rule of thumb is when you can pick up the crust and have it be slightly firm, but not too flexible. Flip it over and continue. The side of the crust that is currntly being grilled will be the bottom, so that side needs to cook for less time than the first side. Once you can remove it from the grill, take it to where you will be putting on the toppings.
You have to be quick with the toppings, as the sauce will start permeating through the crust, causing a soupy mess if you wait too long to get it back on the grill.
Start with the enchilada sauce, spreading it with a table spoon across the surface of the crust. Leave about half an inch on the edges for easy handling. Next, spread the refried beans on top of the sauce. Don’t layer it too thick, as the other toppings won’t cook if there are too many beans. Top that off with the ground beef and cheese. Next, put the tomatoes, onions and black olives on top of the cheese. Head back to the grill.
If you have a two-tiered grill, place the pizza on the top rack with the heat at medium and cook until the cheese is melted. If you’re using a single surface grill, cook on medium low, monitoring the crust so it does not burn.
Once the cheese is melted, slide the pizza off the grill and onto a plate. Cut it up, perhaps garnish it with a light sprinkle of diced cilantro, and serve it up with some cold cervezas and enjoy!