julianhopkins.net - Review

I become a Pole Dancer

nospam@example.com (julian) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:53:27 -0700

Thanks to Nuffnang, I got to see the semi-finalists of the Clorets Amateur Pole Dancing Competition.

They were mostly girls, but two guys were in there all the same – respect! All the semi-finalists all did a short number on a pole, and one of the guys was OK, but the other was too obviously repeating memorised movements with any natural feel. The girls were also variable, with some obvious no-nos, but generally not bad. Some were very good at climbing up the pole too!

Who am I to judge you ask? Well I have a Pole Dancing Certificate (of Participation), delivered by Lola of Viva Vertical

And see what she can do!

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When free isn't enough

nospam@example.com (julian) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:23:09 -0700

Well, my resusable bag giveaway was a miserable failure!

Nobody at all tried to get it, so I was wondering what lessons are to be drawn from it all... and I think these are the relevant points:

• The prize wasn't valuable enough/attractive enough. People (bloggers) aren't that interested in a resusable bag.
• Asking bloggers to do a post is too much (this is relative to the prize of course). When I think of, I've also sometimes been interested in some Nuffnang thing, but not had the time or inspiration to come up with a relevant blog post.
• If I had only asked for some comment of some kind, I may have attracted some response: not all readers are necessarily bloggers, and obviously leaving a comment is easier than doing a post.
• I needed more publicity - I got 100 hits on the post over 10 days, average 10 a day. If there had been more people who knew about it, obviously more may have tried.

Bottom line though: not attractive prize combined with too much work!

RuMe review and giveaway competition! Get a free reusable bag!

nospam@example.com (julian) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:54:26 -0700

**Sticky post until 13/08/08 - Scroll down for new posts**
In a way, it’s a story about blogs – you know how you randomly spot something in PPS or Innit, then click here then there, and end up somewhere you never expected?

It all started with a post by yinhao – through him I came to Nikkiko who was promising a link to anyone who posted a photo showing how not to use plastic bags. So, I did, and also set up a space in my sidebar for Bloggers who hate plastic bags.

Then I got a comment and an email from The Tiny Tapir: she has this online shop full of great enviro-friendly stuff, and was asking me if I wanted to review some reusable bags! Cool! My first review, and for environmentally friendly stuff summor

So, I’ve been using them for a couple of months, and here it is… Oh and you can win one, details at the bottom!

The first thing I noticed, was how small they pack up; the manufacturers say “our patent pending enclosure system enables three bags to roll up to about the size of your cup of coffee.” Actually, the ‘patent enclosure system’ is a couple of velcro straps sewn onto the top, but they work very well and the bags arrived in one A3-size envelope, delivered two days after ordering online.

Radioactive Man vs. RuMe!

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Indiana Julian and the Temple of Earth

nospam@example.com (julian) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:07:40 -0700

In American academic tradition, archaeology falls under the general discipline of anthropology. So, since Indiana Jones is American, and I taught in the American Degree Program, that kind of makes him and me colleagues!

Source

See the resemblance? No? Try squinting hard, even closing your eyes!

OK, maybe he’s a bit more ‘athletic’ than I am… But I also went on a quest, braving danger and near death, just to look for answers to impending environmental disasters

Crawling through caves…

almost drowning in hidden water traps…

and then, when the summer equinox sun shone at 12pm through the hidden grove...

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