Half Decent Coffee, Indecent Agenda?

It happened by accident, really. I should have returned home, but after missing my exit I wound up back at my old stomping grounds in Tillicum, Washington... just outside of Fort Lewis. I don't get over there much anymore, so I decided to have a look around and maybe talk to a few local business owners. I discovered a new coffee shop in town.

They served up a decent mocha, I'll give them that much. It's a cozy little place. The problem is all the propaganda strewn around.

"No, sir," proclaims the quote on the cup. "You mop the floor!" Cute. Various books decry America's participation in war & conflict. One even implies that you can't be a Christian and support the military.

"You better hope your Momma loves you, because the Army doesn't," says one pamphlet. Way to demoralize the troops.

I'm all for advocating the individual soldier and protecting his rights. I used to BE a soldier. But encouraging them to be openly disrespectful toward their superiors (and the Army in general), and that when military cohesion is so important? It seems a little treasonous to me, and it makes me doubt that the owner is the real deal as he (or she) claims.

It's true soldiers don't always get the best accommodations, but in my experience the American military generally bends over backwards to make sure its soldiers what they need. It's up to the individual soldier to take advantage of that when they can. When -- for whatever reason -- they can't, then they adapt, overcome, and accomplish the mission anyway.

I could have been comfortable there, but I wasn't. Not with all that anti-military sentiment. And that from a coffee shop sitting right outside an Army base. Huh? Someone here needs to get a clue, and I'm pretty sure it isn't me.

I'll take my coffee without the political agenda next time, thanks.

Is Google Finally Slapping Itself?

Google is apparently redefining its search results. Again. Chris Crum is asking "Can you rank?" I'm asking a different question. I'm surprised how many people are acting like Google is doing something new every time it changes the way it ranks and serves search results. Is there a webmaster -- or even blogger? -- left alive who doesn't know what it means to be "google slapped"?

The sky isn't falling, folks. In fact, I think if this goes down the way some people think it will, Google is going to lose users. Period.

But think about this: as a webmaster, I'll simply start optimizing my content for some other popular search engines and relegate Google to the back burner where they've been begging to go for some years now anyway. As a mentor, I'll be teaching other people to make similar adjustments to their seo. The more this starts happening, the more market share Google is going to notice slipping through its dying fingers.

Okay, I may be overstating the case there. At worst, Google will probably do just fine catering to firms with big advertising budgets. After all, I'm sure they realize that they're not the only game in town for the "little guys"... right?

Right?