In my continuing research on the semantic web, I make it a priority to catch everything going by that affects the monetization of the web.  Harris Interactive performed a poll asking people about their attitude towards targeted advertising on the web.  After a few questions, the interviewer told the user about new FCC privacy regulations.  The results were somewhat surprising.

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Everyone seems to be talking about the semantic web these days.  Not wanting to appear a fool, I’ve been listening to it for some time without talking about it yet.  The time to talk is about here.

Like many, I have too many feeds, too many things to watch.  My aggregater needs aggregating.  I can’t find what I want, I’ve read behind others who want one too, so I’ve begun to build it.   In the next week or two, I’ll be introducing my attempt to make the web more manageable.  Stay tuned.

In today’s DOTD report, I have two separate cases of police officers totally lacking in brains. In the first case, I believe it was caused by a lack of blood flow to the brain, and in the second case, it was caused by too much blood flow.

Case 1: A drunk girl comes into the police station, clearly with beer goggles on and tries to have a little fun.

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There are two levels of Darwin Awards in my mind–those who win them because they did/caused the action resulting in the subject’s removal from the gene pool, and those who were accomplices or victims of the Darwin-inducing incident. In this case we have both. Filed under Dumbass of the Day.

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Today’s Dumbass of the Day award goes to an unnamed man in Durban, South Africa. Jeff Wicks reports that the would-be thief attempted to climb over a wall protected by sharp spikes. During the attempt, both feet became impaled. When police found him in the morning, he was hanging upside down, still impaled on one foot.

This has fail written over it in so many ways.

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I’ve been reading Feld Thoughts for some time. I try to keep tabs on the VC and startup community, even though I’m no longer in the start up grind. I definitely have the entrepreneurial attitude, but nickel diving isn’t my thing.

I was reading his blog entry today about his efforts to sponsor a bathroom. He has a fascination with bathrooms–but I’m not going there.

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This won’t be popular.  As usual, I was listing to NPR’s Morning Edition today.  They had an article about long term housing for the homeless in New Orleans.  It was nice and warm feeling, especially the part about the blind man who used to live in a house with friends, but now lives in a nursing home.

What disturbed me was another part that was intended to be warm and fuzzy.  They told of a success story of Tyronne Smith, an artist that because homeless after Katrina and lived under a bridge.  Now he had a 3-bedroom apartment that he only pays $80 per month.  He is overwhelmed to have a roof again, he isn’t so depressed, he’s painting again, and he even sold a few paintings at two shows at which he exhibited.  Great, right?

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While listening to NPR today, I heard a report about a protest at Virginia Tech. about the role of gun laws in Virginia. Evidentially Abigail Spangler was upset about the recent Virginia legislative decision to not do anything about gun shows. Gun control activists like to complain about the “loophole” relating to gun shows, but in reality, there are no laws regarding the gun shows. All of the laws relate to registered gun sellers. Ms. Spangler decided to do a type of protest called a “lie in”.

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Following up on my article of two years ago on Christmas gifts for the hard to buy for, here is some ideas on what not to buy–unless they are really hard to buy for. But first, a question:

Q. Why is Santa always so happy?

A. Because he knows where all the bad girls live!

As we get ready for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the general free-for-all, here are my top 10 bad idea gifts for Christmas 2007. I take no responsibility for anyone who buys things on this list.

10. Giant Microbes. Price: 7.95 - 15.95 plus shipping from GiantMicrobes

This is for the micro-biologist in all of us. We want our children to be smart, right? Why not get them started on the scientific route right away, and ensure that they have no friends while you are at it.

The worst of the bunch is the Clap. Simply awful!
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It now says:

From the monkeys who typed Shakespeare comes the stunning sequel…

I don’t know if it is an improvement, but I certainly like it.