Scary Wiki Bloggy News(y)

Oh Lordy! Some criminally insane person (and I swear to you it wasn't me or anyone I know) has decided to use this humble corner of cyberspace as a reference in Wikipedia. Are they mad? A better example of society's slow ebb and the chronic decadence of information integrity is difficult to imagine.

Go check it out here if you like...IKN is reference number 2 of 4 on the page footnotes. Meanwhile, this next photo is for the recently reappeared Bina:

Where can you buy Inca Kola?

Today's the day I clear this one up once and for all.

Inca Kola, for those that don't know, is the Peruvian soda that outsells Coca-Cola in its home country (factoid; Inca Kola in Peru and Thums Up in India are the only soft drinks in the world that outsell Coca-Cola in their home market, or so I'm told). It's bright yellow in colour and the flavour is often described as bubblegum (though I detect notes of banana in there). It's best drunk ice cold so that you don't realize just how much sugar is hitting your bloodstream. My personal fave funfact about IncaKola is that the cheap copies of the stuff made in Peru by other soda companies are usually known as "yellow flavour", which is the most adorable name possible.

I've been asked on several occasions how to buy Inca Kola in North America and another mail arrived last night. The answer is on this link. For U$7.95, some company called MexGrocer will send you a 6pack of the stuff. And no, I'm not on commission for this one. Just a public service announcement to further the cause of diabetes in our modern world. Have a nice Saturday.

Oh Noes! IKN is now on Twitter

I'm your toy, your 21st century boy
(Paraphrased from Marc Bolan)

So if you know what the devil Twitter is and know how to use it, this means

1) You know more than I do

2) You can now follow Inca Kola News on Twitter if you want to.

Or in other words, every time I post here a tinyurl gets posted there. Here's the link to the IKN Twitter page and the rest you have to work out for yourself, cos I don't have a clue.

Oh yeah, nearly forgot

Inca Kola News (that's here) turns one year old today.

My oh my, look at my humble corner of cyberspace now! Here she is all grown up...it seems like only yesterday that she was crawling around on all fours and popping any old thing in her mouth.

A bit like Monica Lewinsky, really. Anyway, happy 1st birthday, my little blog.

Freedom (an in-house post)

"Waddya mean you don't like my make-up?"

Regular readers might have noticed a couple of changes at the site. Gone are the adverts for Fortuna Silver (FVI.v), and if you click on the Vena Resources (VEM.to) banner and read the update underneath, you'll note that the company is not a site sponsor any longer. All this capped off with the move to a larger block of Adsense at the top of the page (as an ongoing experiment). For the last time, I want to state clearly that I'm a firm believer in the future prospects of both FVI.v and VEM.to. I just don't take their advertising money any longer.

All this because IKN has wanted to be for some time and is now 100% independent of any featured paying sponsor. And now it is. The site has just kept on growing in the last few months and has reached a point where I've had to think carefully about what should be done. The first step is a move away from advertising that-or-this company and leaving myself open to accusations of bias that couldn't be addressed properly. I've had to wait until now to honour the previous deals. Expect further changes (hopefully for the better) in the next few weeks. Feedback appreciated as always, esp. from my marketing friends that jump all over me for any minor change that pops up (you know who you are).

Voting starts today for the Weblog awards

As mentioned late last week, Inca Kola News has been chosen as one of the 10 finalists for "Best Latino, Caribbean or South American Blog" in the prestigious 2008 Weblog Awards....which is cool.

So now it's all up to you! Your gratefully-humbled-but-proud Otto will be the happiest dude in the barrio if he finishes in the top five, so if you'd be so kind click on this banner below and go to the voting site (starting Monday 9am New York time, so I'm told)

Then click a vote for Inca Kola News, if you'd be so kind again. Thanks in advance.

By the way, you are free to vote again after 24 hours have elapsed, so those of you with enough passion for this humble corner of cyberspace can vote again at 11:01am on Tuesday if you vote at 11:00am today (and then 11:02am Wednesday, etc etc)

Voting is open from today until January 12th (i.e. one week), so as they say down Chicago way;

vote early and often

Well, I must have done something right

I've just found out to my great surprise that for some strange reason this blog has been included as one of the ten finalists for "Best Latino, Caribbean, or South American Blog" in the 2008 Weblog awards.... which is nice. Here's the page where the finalists are linked and here's the list of the ten blogs that made it to the finals:

Best Latino, Caribbean, or South American Blog

Dolar Paralelo
inca kola news
Generation Y
Mujeres camino al éxito
mUsiqUe auTomaTiquE
El Cafe Cubano
Cubanazos
Luz de Luma. yes party!
Mambí en Acción
popnografia

You can find the list just under half way down the page (these Weblog people do a lot of categories, it seems). Of the others, I only know the Generation Y blog but I do know it does a great job covering Cuba and is rightly megapopular. Just to be on the same list as Generation Y is quite an honour, frankly.

So anyway, they give out finalists badges soon so expect it to pop up on site this week. A humble thanks to the unknown nice people who must have said nice things to get IKN this far. And to all you readers.