Most Audacious -- Million Dollar Home Page

Making a million dollars selling Pixels

I read about this in the Wall Street Journal. Just when the cynics are out to convince you that there are no more ways to make money on the 'net, along comes 21-year-old Alex Tew. I really enjoyed the creative audacity of this guy from the Great Britain, who got an idea, actually implemented it and is now reaping the rewards. Here's his idea in a nutshell -- he is selling each pixel in his now famous homepage for $1. There are a million pixels (10,000 times 100 pixels) and he's set to rake in a million dollars. In return, the throngs of people who buy the pixels (in sets of 100) get to run their ads in the milliondollarhomepage. They get extra traffic to their websites for spending just a few dollars, and Alex gets to keep the money that these advertisers pay him for these tiny 100-pixel billboards on his prime virtual real-estate property.

Interestingly, (and perhaps to be expected) Alex has also spawned off a whole genre of imitators in what is now being dubbed the pixel wars. Be sure to check out the milliondollarhomepage, as well as Alex's blog,wherein he shares his experiences. I give this concept an 8 for its audacity-combined -with creativity. If you agree, disagree or know of others similar or better, do leave a comment. Thanks.

iBonds - Most Enjoyed returns

Yes, this posting is about personal finance. IBonds return 6.73% on your money, offered by Uncle Sam. I decided I'll take it. I just purchased some recently, directly from www.treasurydirect.gov. (You can start with as little as $25 or go up to $30,000 per year.) The idea of no middleperson, no financial planner appealed to me.

Read about iBonds from folks eminently more qualified than me. Clearly, IBonds are not for those of you who are confident of making double-digit gains every year in the stock market. However, I did find the monotonicity of the interest rate graph (to the right, click on the image to enlarge) very compelling. Perhaps that is what pushed me over and made me buy. I enjoyed the thought of the returns, but obviously your mileage may vary.

Vietnam: A Veteran's Perspective

Lecture: Vietnam: A Veteran's Perspective
Presented by Author and veteran Ned Ricks
Arlington Heights Public Library (Thu, Nov 17, 2005)

I was looking for excuses to give myself. I wasn't going to go. It was on a work day, it was at 7pm, and I hadn't had dinner. But this war (more than many of the others) fascinates me, and so I got on the car and went.

Now, I admit that I had a mental image of an elderly man mumbling and trying to push his book. But the minute I stepped into the auditorium, I knew I couldn't have been more wrong. This guy knew what he was doing. The sad thing was that there were less than 2 dozen listeners.

Mr. (or should I refer to him as Sgt.?) Ricks was a showman, a raconteur, an educator, a contemporary version of a patriot and a complete inspiration. First of all, you have to respect anyone who brings their own mike system to a library.

Ned Ricks has been giving these presentations for 8 years, and boy he's got it polished so it shines. He starts out giving us a feel for how innocent the town of Crawfordsville, IN was when he was growing up, and takes us along step by step, as he gets recruited and sent over.

I enjoyed his version of humor as he refered to how his colleagues get recruited ("You can go to jail, or you can join the army") . The idyllic vision of life and the army are slowly shattered as the war progresses. His combat experiences, and even more so his experience doing the "grave duty" struck a chord in me. Again he narrates these seemingly humorous anecdotes to drive the darkness home. The sargent who shot his own hand so that he wouldn't have to fight in the front line, and how that bullet cut his finger, hit the ground, bounced back and hit an 18-year old private in the chest and killed him. The experienced soldier who threw a grenade into a cave, and because it didn't go off, bent down to pick it up hoping to throw it again.

He talked about seeing the image of the Buddist monk burning himself. I then later looked up that incident so that I could provide a link here for those interested. Ned gave an interesting piece of statistic: In Vietnam, the US had 10 men supporting each soldier who actually fought. In contrast, the Vietcong had a ratio of 3 to 1.

54,000 U.S. lives lost in 'Nam, and Ned Ricks witnessed close to 5,000 corpses go by in all the time that he did his grave duty. His description of the silver coffinboxes, stacked 6-high were chilling. What was admirable to me was how one man who has seen so much suffering can still stay so positive.

He made a reference to Saving Private Ryan, and the scene when Tom Hanks whispers in Ryan's ear. We the audience don't hear the whisper. Cut forward 50 years to the elderly & grown up Private Ryan, and he turns and asks his wife if he's lived a good life. (And we infer what Tom Hanks had whispered all those years ago.) Ned ended his lecture by telling us that for 35+ years he's tried to live a good life.

During Q&A, Ned wasn't afraid to air his political opinion, saying that while he supported the war in Afghanistan, he didn't support the Iraq war, thereby making a fine distinction between the two wars that usually get lumped together. I asked him if he'd do it all over again if he had to, and he said no, not if he knew everything that he knows now.

Here's a link that references his book if you wish to read a little about Ned Ricks.

Sudoku Addiction

I had a goal. That I would post here only after I had solved one in under 5 minutes. A modest goal, I readily admit. But, boy, had I underestimated the difficulty. I would come close, but nowhere near 5 mins. Well, today, I lucked out and did it in exactly 5 mins. (I have included the screen shots here.)

I am no expert, just posting here because I enjoy it from time to time. Discovered it this year, and got addicted, and sort of un-addicted myself by forcing myself to think of the bigger things in life. All said & done, Sudoku is nothing but a magical square, albeit a special one.


When I do play, it is at www.websudoku.com. (I usually play the Easy mode, and use the setting that has the seconds ticking to put some pressure on myself hoping that will help my concentration. If you haven't tried it yet, please do so.

Book: The Search by John Battelle
Subtitle: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture

I have increasingly become a Google fan (of the company, not just the search engine). So I eagerly looked forward to reading the book. Suffice to say that it doesn't disappoint. Many of you are sure to think that this is a rather dry subject. However, I request you to give a chapter or two a try and to then decide for yourself.
It is especially those who don't know all that much about Search who should read this book. There is a revolution happening, and John is the guide who points it out to us.

The book is worth it simply for all the other references that you will pick up. John does a great job of conveying the sense of how we are merely at the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Interesting personalities abound as do several neat anecdotes.

Two things I particularly liked: Battelle, who is clearly an expert on search writes like "one of us," and that makes the reading smooth. Also, what I thought would be nonstop Googlepraise turned out not to be the case. I appreciate the author's attempt at balance.

Finally, here's the Author's Blog. You will surely find a thing or two of value there. I know I did.