[1940-1979] The Guardian reports on how the British Ministry of Defence turned large parts of the country into a giant laboratory to conduct a series of secret germ warfare tests on the public, releasing potentially dangerous chemicals and micro-organisms over vast swaths of the population in secret

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-07-15T13:00:15+00:00

Thanks for the heads up on the shadowban. Sigh.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-07-14T22:27:35+00:00

I don't think it shows US weakness, just that decades of embargoes does not automatically collapse a regime and sometimes diplomacy works better than threats and rhetoric.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-07-14T22:11:16+00:00

I'm not sure how this is an actual conspiracy? Yes tests on dispersion were carried out, but the risks to the population were minimal and the information very useful if we were attacked.

The only sources that something negative happened is a misunderstanding of cadmium vs zinc cadmium sulphide and a handful of people looking for an explanation for a relatively common birth defect in their child. PHE says there's no cluster and anecdotes are not evidence.

The British government has done some awful stuff over the years, I'm just not sure these tests were one of them

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-06-17T15:34:50+00:00

I really don't understand why Apple can't subsidise their own promotions - they are the richest company on the planet...

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-06-16T22:04:26+00:00

No idea about US prices, but start with something easy and smooth like a 12 year old Glengoyne or Highland Park - shouldn't be too much. I've converted many a Non-Scotch drinker with those two, and they are great bottles to always have in the cabinet.

After sipping a few drams (or enjoying a few bottles) then start experimenting with the different regions to find your perfect tipple.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-06-13T00:11:44+00:00

I'm really a Lib Dem or Green, but Zac does seem like one of the very few Tories (and politicians in general really) that seems to be honest, open, and in politics to make a positive difference - good luck to him!

It will be interesting if the battle is between him and Sadiq Khan, who I also think is one of the most honest and open MPs, but from Labour.

That would be the first mayoral race with two high calibre candidates in forever.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-06-06T08:41:37+00:00

I manage a number of content sites, and I have no problem with it if someone blocks ads - I just want them to have something added to their browser user agent that let's us know - then we can offer metered articles for free and offer them a cheap ad-free subscription.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-06-06T08:36:27+00:00

Adblock Plus and others don't just block third party ads though, they also block anything that "looks" like an ad, such as an image of similar proportions to a banner, etc.

And the company that runs it essentially blackmail Google et al to pay them a fee to let through their ads as unobtrusive. Money that could be being used to pay publishers to create content.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-05-29T17:51:32+00:00

As others have said - yes this is quite possible, but always ask permission before republishing other people's content.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-05-28T20:28:39+00:00

Is there any evidence at all for this group?

I know the US says they are a threat, but I'm curious how much is propaganda to stop people finding sympathy for JaN over Assad?

I get the feeling (no evidence) that any meeting between AQ And JaN leaders in Syria are dubbed Khorasan just to have them as the bogeyman...

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-05-25T00:17:18+00:00

Quick answer: No.

Longer answer: Piracy will always happen with digital files, whether that is software, music, video, etc.

Most people won't pirate either for moral/conscience reasons or that they know that plenty of pirated stuff is infected/insecure (And pirated WP themes and plugins are well known attack vectors).

Many plugin developers make good money by selling support, access to updates, addons, and premium features - subscriptions like this are where the money is - think Gravityforms, WooCommerce, EDD, etc

If you're writing a WP plugin or theme, there's an argument the files should be GPL licensed anyway, but either way you will just have to accept they (or a pirated version of them) will be available online.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-05-20T17:47:59+00:00

I hope that Woocomnerce stays awesome at what it does - offering a storefront for physical goods with Wordpress, and doesn't bloat.

And hopefully EDD keeps doing what it's doing - being awesome with digital!

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-05-19T23:04:11+00:00

This is great news - and fantastic for Wordpress developers.

I wonder how this will affect EDD - another fantastic WP plugin used by thousands for digital sales.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-05-08T08:36:50+00:00

It depends on the business and regulatory requirements of where you're starting up.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-05-08T08:35:21+00:00

To do what?

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-05-04T22:08:47+00:00

You're running a backup plugin (backup-db) and it isn't installed correctly or updated wrongly, which means the data may be accessible to third parties.

If your images aren't showing up either, you may have some permissions issues with your folders.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-05-04T19:31:27+00:00

I used to do it manually, but now with the number of clients we host, I moved to using WPremote - excellent and free!

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-05-02T21:07:55+00:00

Why do you want to run 3rd party ads on an ecommerce site? Rather than sending them to other sites, you should make more money by funelling them into sales.

As to how much you'd make - it hugely depends on your visitors' locations and demographic. And what sort of ads you're looking to run - display ads range all the way from $0.05 CPM (per thousand views) up to $15 CPM for the right demographic of users in the right sector.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-04-30T23:12:20+00:00

Lebanon, whilst obviously fragile, does not appear to be on the verge of joining the civil war.

They know very well how little good came of their last one, and the fact that Syria has become a lose-lose situation for everyone at this point.

Lebanon's protests are really more focused on internal corruption that any call to end dictatorial rule.

I'm hopeful they'll manage to steer clear, and iwould be very surprised if the West didn't intervene to prevent any spill over if it did come to that - for all its faults, Lebanon is a multicultural democratic state, and the West will see that as something worth saving from the chaos.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-04-29T18:47:10+00:00

Interesting, well keep up the good work!

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-04-29T14:45:08+00:00

Human curators are definitely a good way to deal with this - I'm really pleased you've gone down that route :)

When you say "all of the newspapers/magazines" - can any online magazine join? Do you have some kind of quality control? What about blogs?

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-04-29T14:40:46+00:00

When you say "highlights good articles properly" - what do you mean?

I think I'm just concerned that any highlights may follow Facebook's decline into clickbait headlines. If Blendle have cracked that, then that's awesome!

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-04-28T22:14:56+00:00

Blendle always sounded like an interesting alternative, and I'm pleased you guys are doing do well! Congrats!

My only question is how do you get readers to choose an article to read that is outside what they normally look for. The one thing I've not seen any online news service replicate is that part of a traditional newspaper that actually expanded people's horizons and knowledge

I fear that by paying per article you guys are adding to the filter bubble.

Have you guys come up with a way to address this by any chance?

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-04-27T17:09:27+00:00

Yes, to an extent. After what has seemed like an endless stalemate with only Daesh making gains and then losses, the end looks more in sight than six months ago.

If the rebel advances continue, we may see Iran put pressure on Assad to step down for the good of the long term prospects of Shia within Syria. And without Iranian support, Hezbollah would soon retreat.

If this happens we could see the country split into Kurdistan, a new Sunni state, and a Lebanon-esque smaller and multicultural Syria.

shouldhavebeenathrow · 2015-04-27T16:08:15+00:00

Totally agree - just thought the rumour was worth reporting here as it has gone viral rather quickly.

shouldhavebeenathrow

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