Welcome to Blogging With Dr P... blogging when I can - honest
Your Blogging With Dr P... search result is below this annoucement. In April 2008 Blogging With Dr P... moved to Blog Bypass.
If you're using the Blog Studio Search Facility to find a link to a previous blog, then I've been very generous, and NOT included an automatic re-direct which would take you there.
Thank you to Blog Studio for all the help over years! :)
(Feb 2010 Update): Haloscan is no more. Therefore the comments on this blog are no more. Sad, but true. I'm not paying $12 a year for the occasional comment with Echo. Apologies to all those who have commented. I have saved them and may well stick them somewhere else at some point. Thursday, June 30, 2005"Deep Throat" Coughs Up!
The former top FBI official who became the most famous anonymous source in U.S. history Deep Throat was motivated by a desire to protect the FBI, disgust with the Nixon White House, reverence for former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and the thrill of "the game," Bob Woodward of The Washington Post writes in his new book The Secret Man, The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat. (Story from USA Today)
W. Mark Felt, now 91, stepped forward this spring to say he was Woodward's famous source for information about the 1972 burglary of Democratic Party offices at the Watergate Hotel in Washington and subsequent cover-up by White House officials. The scandal led to President Nixon's resignation in 1974.
In the book, which is due in stores next Wednesday but which USA TODAY purchased Thursday at a store in Fairfax County, Va., that had mistakenly put copies out for sale, Woodward also writes that:
Former Justice Department official Stanley Pottinger figured out in 1976 that Felt had been Deep Throat, but never told anyone but Woodward of his conclusion. Pottinger discovered the truth during testimony Felt was giving before a grand jury in 1976. The grand jury's probe was not related to Watergate, but one of the jurors asked Felt if he had been Deep Throat.
According to Woodward, Felt answered "no." Pottinger then reminded Felt he was under oath, and offered to have the question and answer withdrawn because they were "outside the bounds of the investigation."
"Flushed," Woodward writes, "Felt very rapidly requested, 'Withdraw the question.' " Woodward writes that Pottinger knew then that Felt had been Deep Throat. Pottinger did not reveal what he had heard, Woodward writes, because he did not think it appropriate to unmask a reporter's confidential source.
Felt was able to give Woodward one of the most important scoops of the time that there were gaps in an Oval Office recording of the president, indicating someone may have deliberately erased incriminating information Űeven though the former FBI official had retired several months earlier, because he was still "in touch with many friends" at the bureau.
The garage where Woodward met and which was used to dramatic effect in the movie All the President's Men, is located "behind and underneath" 1401 Wilson Boulevard in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, Va.
Watergate aficionados who were thrown off for years by the fact that Woodward had said Deep Throat smoked cigarettes while Felt had said he did not should not have been so concerned. Felt did smoke during their clandestine meetings, Woodward writes, possibly out of nervousness.
Woodward suspected at the time of his reporting on Watergate that someone from the Post was leaking information about his sources to the White House. It was never discovered who the leaker might have been, but the information led the White House close to identifying Felt as one of Woodward's sources.
Because of dementia, Felt can no longer remember much of what happened during the Watergate years or his time at the FBI. Woodward writes that he met with Felt several times in the past five years. He recounts a lengthy conversation he had with Felt on Feb. 28, 2002, which Woodward says he recorded. At one point, Felt says he has "very little recollection of that period."
Woodward says his concern that the man he promised confidentiality to in 1972 is not the same man today led him to resist entreaties from Felt's family in recent years to assist in telling Felt's story. It was Felt's family who helped tell his story to Vanity Fair magazine this year.
As for Felt's motivations, and whether they in any way tainted his information, Woodward writes that he was convinced that the accuracy and importance of the information outweighed any concerns about Felt's "design."
The Secret Man is published by Simon & Schuster.
[Link] - | Old Blog Search Saturday, June 25, 2005Shameless Plugging and Swollen Feet
Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking.....ahem....(!).... yet again, as of today, Saturday June 25th , ( only six months to Christmas! And don't send me the usual socks again - Lordy you guys live all over the world - make it something interesting this year, eh?), I am a world wide celebrity - appearing on the front page of WebProWorld - and just in case you missed it, (down at the bottom of the page), - here it is:
WebProWorld: Meet The Member
It's just so hectic being an international media mogul nowadays! :) I think I'm going to have to hire a secretary to handle all the press releases etc. Hey - there's an idea! I could invent an internet personna - pretty much like a lot of us do now - but instead of holding back with info about ourselves - I could set up this whole guy's life! Ha! I might work on that on.......
Other news - got a swollen right foot at the moment. Very odd. Had blood tests - negative. Took a small phial of Old Peculiar, (that's urine dear, pee! back to the docs - that was negative as well, although it did take the glaze off the sink! We finally reached a conclusion that it could be something in the blood clotty area - so he's give me some blood thinning tabs to take for a couple of months.
He's a great bloke my doc. He's an Aussie - but then somebody has to be I suppose ;) I was in with him for about half an hour. The first 20 mins we talked about cricket, tennis - and his recent favourite passion - on-line poker - and then finally we got to talking about my foot. What a guy.
Right I'm off to earn some money off the net - catch y'all around the www somewhere!
When I started this blog back in November 2002, it looked at lot like this - pretty tacky in colour with absolutely no direction in content whatsoever.
And here we a few years later with the present design, (which will probably stay like this for a while). I know the design is not perfect from a purset point of view - tables, CSS, bad coding etc - but it's on the web, and you can read it - and comment on it.
What hasn't changed, (thankfully!), is the content - or the constant diversity of it. I think you'll agree that from the links on the side of the page, that a lot of time has been spent putting travelogues together of various holidays to the USA and business trips to France. Equally there's a link there to my Fotolog Area. And, in case you've missed all the action over the last couple of years, you can cathc up with the Best Of Blogging With Dr P... 2002 - 2004.
But today we'll stick with the usual trend and a quick reminder. It's now winter. Yup, the days are getting shorter and the nights are drawing in. Start stacking up that woodpile - and the larder in case you get snowed-in. It could be a long old haul through these dark & stormy nights...
I just finished watching a huge documentary oon the making of Live Aid. And, I have to agree, it was one of those momentous occasions like the end of WWII, Berlin Wall coming down, etc etc - for those of that generation.
Where you you when Live Aid was happening? I was in Belgium at the time. In the months coming up to July of that year, I had spent sailing a yacht from Wales to Spain, hitchhiking up to Belgium, and getting a job decorating the former Bolivian Embassy in Brussels - honest. On the day of the gig, me and brother Dom, (who was working in Brussel at the time), were bar hopping around the city - catching different parts of the event as we necked Jupiler, Stella etc in the various ex-pat and local herdy-gerdy bars. Fnally we ended up back at the apartment to slur through the rst of the show.
Best part? Queen - Radio Ga Ga - to see Freddie Mercury control the crowd - everyone clapping in unison, arms above their heads - including the whole of the Philly stadium who were watching it on the big screen there - awesome!
And now there's the Live 8 gig. Well at least Bob won't be saying "Just give us yer money.....fuck the addresses.....just give them the numbers..." ;)
Since the middle of last year I have been learning stuff about the internet from many places. One of the places I have spent a great deal of time at is at the Crea8site Forums. Thsi is an excellent place to learn about web design, e-commerce etc etc. And it's not just a learning place, it's a community. The folks there are not just extremely knowledgable, but are also willing to spend their own time in sharing that knowledge - and encouraging others. Unlike many internet forums, it is a pleasant place to go to talk shop, or generally chat & say hi to like-minded individuals.
Paul's 500th Cre8asite Posting Flag
And today I posted my 500th post in the Chat & Rave section. I was talking about getting an air conditioning unit from B & Q. Yes, we got one for 118GB pounds - which I think should really have been 158GB pounds - but I exerted my consumer rights, (and my consumer lefts!), and got the extra money knocked off due to a promotional error on their POS - point of sale to you non-retailers out there :)
Anyway, you should take a trip to the Cre8asite Forums - tell them send2paul sent you :)
Unfortunately, I missed the chance of phoning Fernando, (a colleague of mine in PC City, France), who left the company on Wednesday. That's another one of the old school gone. Olivier Lai was the first to go a few years back. And what with an ever expanding business over there... who knows... I may be winging my way back across the channel to help out... maybe ;)
I was down in Southampton Footbal Club yesterday - in the Bobby Stokes Suite for a company meeting. (Booby Stokes was the guy who scored the goal when Southampton beat Man Utd many years ago in the FA Cup Final). And we had a tour of the ground - which was nice.
Adsense earnings on my Laser Eye Surgery pages are growing and growing. If you haven't got Adsense on your blog, or website, I strongly recommend you take the Google Adsense Tour to tell you all about it - and how to make money off your weblog.
Anyway - sorry for the boring blog today, but I just thought I'd say hi as I haven't been here all week. I didn't want any of you getting worried ;)
[Link] - | Old Blog Search Saturday, June 11, 2005Agnetha's Bum Rides The Range One More Time
Unaccustomed as I am to fawning to the general populace demands for pictures of Agnetha's bottom. Here are a few I had stashed away for a rainy day (?)...
It's only art, isn't it? Oh God - we all know what the stats are going to be like now! I mean, it's bad enough that I'm in the top spot of Google for Agnetha's Bottom anyway - having written about her derriere on two separate occasions back in Jan this year and April 2004 as well.
And if you want to see more of Agnetha, take a look here:
It seems the world just can't get enough of Agnetha's Bum!
[Link] - | Old Blog Search Friday, June 10, 2005Stock Audit Retirement/Getting Shafted Leaving "Do"
On Wednesday evening was a retirement do for the three wise men - John, Ian, and Eric who are retiring, (or was Eric just leaving after a lengthy service? Hell, I can't remember - it was 35 years anyway). All this had come about as a result of the headcount reduction by those bunch of bastards up at head office. Naturally, I was there as well, as one of the VICTIMS who has now shifted his allegiance to one of the chains....(no fucking advertising for PCWorld here my lad!).
Anyway - it was a good bash. It was good to see everyone again - if not for the last time in many cases.
As I had to get up at 4am the following morning, I split the scene daddy-o around 11pm and went back to the hotel. Around 12.30pm/1am - there was a hammering on my bedroom - and footsteps heading back towards Mark's room. Thankfully I had some comprising photos of Mark, (and Phil, who I believe may have done the hammering on the door).
Here is a picture of Mark, Phil and some small furry animals in Mark's hotel room earlier in the evening....
You may have to alter the brightness and contrast controls on your monitor, (my Paint Shop Pro software is kaput at the moment, and I couldn't brighten up the photo). If you look very carefully you can see Phil in the harness on the left, and Mark with the hamster and the roll of sellotape in the centre of the picture. I think the three naked dwarves on the right are friends of Mark he keeps in the boot of the car and brings out for special occasions such as these.
Anyway - good luck to everyone! I have a shed load of over photos if anyone wants me to burn them on a disc etc and I'll send them to you. Mark's special photos will, obviously, be finding their way onto one of those credit card only websites a little later ;).
Whilst drving home on Friday afternoon, (through the centre of London - something I'll try not to do again!), I came across the two extremes of laser eye surgery centres in London. This one:
Was just around by Kings Cross Station. Now I'm not saying for one minute that any establishment based around Kings Cross should be tarnished with any kind of reputation that might be attached to certain ladies & men who frequent the nearby side streets looking for... er ....sexual favours for rent, and I'm certainly not saying that just because there is a shit load of construction work going on around this particular laser eye surgery centre that it in any way reflects on the operations and professionalism of the owners/doctors within this laser eye surgery centre......BUT..... you've got to admit - it looks a little dodgey don't it? ;)
In comparison, several miles further going out of London was this place:
Which only happens to be one of the best known laser eye surgery centres in the world :)
But, whichever laser eye surgery centre anybody went to that day, you can always rely upon the residents of London to have something interesting to look at when you pull up at a set of traffice lights:
London what a place for laser eye surgery..... and photos, eh? ;)
[Link] - | Old Blog Search Saturday, June 04, 2005Google Adsense - Making Money Off The Net
Here is a cheque, (details removed), which Google Adsense sent me:
They sent me this cheque because I am part of the Google Adsense programme. I am a Google Adsense publisher.
But what does it all mean? And why should they send me money? Basically, it's like this:
Advertisers pay Google to advertise with them by way of contextual advertising javascript which publishers, (like me), place on our webpages. Should the webpage contain text which matches one of the advertisers ads - then the ad will magically appear on that webpage.
Should somebody viewing the page then click on of those ads - then the advertiser will get paid a nice sum from Google - but the publisher - me! - will also get a paid a tiny amount. These tiny amounts build up - and then Google will send you a check.
There's actually a lot more to it after understanding the basics, but if you take the tour: Google Adsesne Tour, you'll understand that you too can make money off the net with Google Adsense.
By SHARON THEIMER WASHINGTON (AP) - Watergate whistleblower Deep Throat played a central role in one of the biggest White House scandals ever, helping bring down a president and inspire a political mystery so famous his nickname earned an entry in Webster's. Thirty years later, the source is secret no more.
At age 91, after decades of hiding his role as The Washington Post's tipster from politicians, the public and even his family, former FBI official W. Mark Felt told his secret to a lawyer his family had consulted on whether Felt should come forward.
The attorney, John O'Connor, wrote a Vanity Fair magazine article revealing Felt's disclosure, and within hours of the story's release Tuesday, Felt's family and the Post confirmed it.
"I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat,'' Vanity Fair quoted Felt, the former No. 2 man at the FBI, as saying.
"It's the last secret'' of the story, said Ben Bradlee, the paper's top editor at the time the riveting political drama played out three decades ago.
Felt lives in Santa Rosa, Calif., and is said to be in poor mental and physical health because of a stroke. His family did not immediately make him available for comment, asking the news media horde gathered outside his home to respect his privacy ``in view of his age and health.''
"The family believes that my grandfather, Mark Felt Sr., is a great American hero who went well above and beyond the call of duty at much risk to himself to save his country from a horrible injustice,'' Felt's grandson, Nick Jones, said, reading a family statement. "We all sincerely hope the country will see him this way as well.''
Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein said in a statement: "W. Mark Felt was 'Deep Throat' and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage. However, as the record shows, many other sources and officials assisted us and other reporters for the hundreds of stories that were written in The Washington Post about Watergate.''
For many, Felt's admission answers one of the biggest questions in American politics and journalism: Who was the source so fearful he'd be found out by the Nixon White House that he insisted on secret signals rather than phone calls to arrange meetings with the Post reporters, a man portrayed as a cigarette-smoking bundle of nerves by Hal Holbrook in the 1970s movie "All the President's Men''?
"A good secret deserves a decent burial and this one is going to get a state funeral,'' Leonard Garment, acting special counsel to President Nixon after the Watergate story broke and author of the book "In Search of Deep Throat.''
Felt "had the credentials, he had the knowledge, he had a series of motives, he probably was very unhappy with the way the investigation was going,'' Garment said.
For some, it raises new questions.
"I never thought he was in the loop to have the information,'' John Dean, counsel in Nixon's White House and the government's top informant in the Watergate investigation, told The Associated Press. "How in the world could Felt have done it alone?''
Dean said he couldn't see how Felt, then in charge of the FBI's day-to-day operations, could have had time to rendezvous with reporters in parking garages and leave clandestine messages to arrange meetings. Perhaps FBI agents helped him, Dean suggested.
The scandal that brought Nixon's resignation began with a burglary and attempted tapping of phones in Democratic Party offices at the Watergate office building in Washington during Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign. It went on to include disclosures of covert Nixon administration spying on and retaliating against a host of perceived enemies. But the most devastating disclosure was the president's own role in trying to cover-up his administration's involvement.
Among other things, Deep Throat urged Woodward and Bernstein to follow the money trail - from the financing of burglars who broke into the Democratic National Committee offices to the financing of Nixon's re-election campaign.
The resulting campaign finance scandal led Congress to overhaul the nation's campaign finance rules, ordering federal candidates and national party committees to disclose their donors' identities and observe new contribution limits.
Woodward, Bernstein and Bradlee had kept the identity of Deep Throat secret at his request, saying his name would be revealed upon his death. But then Felt revealed it himself, a move that startled Woodward and the Post, the newspaper reported.
Also surprised was Nixon chief counsel Charles Colson, who worked closely with Felt in the Nixon administration and served prison time in the Watergate scandal.
"He had the trust of America's leaders and to think that he betrayed that trust is hard for me to fathom,'' Colson told the AP.
Even the existence of Deep Throat, nicknamed for an X-rated movie of the early 1970s, was kept secret for a time. Woodward and Bernstein revealed their reporting had been aided by a Nixon administration source in their best-selling book ``All the President's Men.'' Felt's name doesn't appear there.
A hit movie was made of the book in 1976 starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. It portrayed cloak-and-dagger methods employed by Woodward and Deep Throat. When Woodward wanted a meeting, he would position an empty flowerpot containing a red flag on his apartment balcony. When Deep Throat wanted to meet, the hands of a clock would appear written inside Woodward's New York Times.
The identity of the source had sparked endless speculation over the past three decades. Dean, Nixon chief of staff Alexander Haig, White House press aide Diane Sawyer, speechwriter Pat Buchanan and Garment were among those mentioned as possibilities.
Felt also had been mentioned, but he regularly denied it. His motive for tipping off Woodward and Bernstein remains unknown, but the Post suggested in a story Tuesday night that anger over Nixon's decision to pass him over for FBI director after the death of J. Edgar Hoover could have been a factor.
Felt had expressed reservations in the past about revealing his identity, and about whether his actions were appropriate for an FBI man, his grandson said. His family members thought otherwise. His daughter, Joan, argued that he could "make enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I've run up for the children's education.''
Woodward and Bernstein were the first reporters to link the Nixon White House and the Watergate break-in.
Nixon, facing almost-certain impeachment for helping to cover up the break-in, resigned in August 1974. Forty government officials and members of Nixon's re-election committee were convicted on felony charges.
Felt was convicted in 1980 for authorizing illegal break-ins in the 1970s at homes of people associated with the radical Weather Underground. He was pardoned by President Reagan in 1981.
Associated Press writers Greg Sandoval in Santa Rosa, Calif., Pete Yost in Washington and Larry McShane in New York contributed to this report.
