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Friday, September 9, 2011

9-11 Alert

After I already left Taiwan, I started getting emails from the Dept. of State.  I'm not sure how they got my email.  Here's the latest release to coincide with the 9-11 anniversary:



9-11 Anniversary


As we mark the 10th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Department of State informs U.S. citizens traveling and residing abroad of the continued threat posed by al-Qa’ida and its affiliates.  While we have not identified any specific threats from al-Qa’ida affiliates and allies to attack the United States or our interests on the 9/11 anniversary, U.S. citizens should be aware that al-Qa’ida affiliates and allies have demonstrated the intent and capability to carry out attacks against the United States and our interests around the world.  In the past, terrorist organizations have on occasion planned their attacks to coincide with significant dates on the calendar.  This Worldwide Travel Alert supplements the July 26, 2011, Worldwide Caution, and expires on January 2, 2012.

U.S. citizens traveling and residing abroad should enroll in the Smart Travelers Enrollment Program (STEP) at the following website: https://travelregistration.state.gov

U.S. citizens without internet access may enroll directly at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate at their destination.  By enrolling, U.S. citizens make it easier for the Embassy to contact them in case of emergency.
Updated information on travel and security may be obtained from the Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444.  For further information, please consult the Worldwide Caution and other consular information, including Country Specific Information, for specific countries.  These products and the latest international travel information for U.S. citizens are available on the Bureau of Consular Affairs Internet website at http://travel.state.gov
This email is UNCLASSIFIED.

Adsense and Adwords

I got one of those free little cards that google sends out in the mail because I signed up for adsense.  I see I just got one because of google places too.  Anyways, I set up an "Add Words" advertisement for a web site design company in Ballard.    Supposedly they are going to match me up with some key words that I chose like website,design, Lynnwood, Seattle or Ballard.  I have a google adsense account over on the right side, so let's see if one of those ads come up there. 


Picture of giant ball made of Driftwood.  Taitung, Taiwan
I tried to see if the ad would appear in the google search results based on those key words, but it did not seem to.. That may be a different system or I may need to target some narrower keywords for the test.  Anyways, this post is mostly just to test out the system..

An interesting thing happened as well, apparently they (Google) don't allow ! in their ad titles, so my ad was immediately rejected.  There was a little link for "Request an Exception" which I clicked and waited until just today (4 days later) to get a reply back that my ad was "disapproved"!    This is the reason they gave: 
"Punctuation and Symbols: Punctuation & Symbols: Per the 'Ad Style &
grammar' section of our Editorial Guidelines, we do not permit
excessive or unnecessary punctuation or symbols. The following are
examples of guideline violations: "
Apparently they don't allow Exclamation Marks in the title, so I had to remove it from ad title "Get a web site now!".  After then it was immediately accepted.   Supposedly.  I'll believe it when I see the ad somewhere, like on this blog.

Cheers and Happy Last Days of Summer !

Keith

Containers used for river embankment.  Taitung County, Taiwan