OurGirl: Fear and Loathing on Blogger

Raoul Duke: You can turn your back on a person, but, never turn your back on a drug. Especially when it's waving a razor-sharp hunting knife in your eye.

>CENSORED<

i love the harvard business review. i picked up the latest magazine and saw this article:

	We Googled You (HBR Case Commentary)
	Publication Date: Jun 1, 2007 Availability: In Stock Author(s): Diane L. Coutu, John G. Palfrey Jr., danah m. boyd, Jeffrey A. Joerres, Michael Fertik Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Number: R0706Z Language: English Length: 5p

Description: As the CEO of Hathaway Jones, an American luxury apparel retailer, Fred Westen has spent the past four years struggling to revamp his company's stodgy image and boost flagging sales. He's just announced an ambitious plan to elbow in on China's fast-growing luxury goods market when he gets a call from an old prep school friend. Fred agrees to meet his friend's daughter, Mimi Brewster, to see whether she might be able to head up the company's flagship store in Shanghai. Fred is impressed by Mimi's CV, and the interview goes off without a hitch, but a routine Google search turns up information about her that could affect the company's performance in China. News stories and photos reveal that when Mimi was fresh out of college, she'd participated in nonviolent but vocal demonstrations--including one in front of China's San Francisco consulate--against the World Trade Organization. As the vice president of HR urges caution, Fred ponders hiring practices in the digital age. He knows that nothing is secret anymore--especially among younger people, who brazenly post the most intimate details of their lives for the world to see. If he hires Mimi, and her past conduct becomes widely known, his company's expansion overseas could be set back. But rising stars like Mimi don't walk in the door every day. Should Fred hire her despite her online history? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0706A and R0706Z are John G. Palfrey, Jr., a professor and the executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School; Jeffrey A. Joerres, the CEO of Manpower; danah m. boyd, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, and a corporate adviser; and Michael Fertik, the CEO of ReputationDefender.

Learning Objective: This case depicts an executive who, through an online search, discovers information about a job candidate that causes him concern about her qualifications. The reader considers issues such as the legal implications of Internet searching practices, the veracity of information found online, and the wisdom of expecting job candidates to have spotless online reputations.

Subjects Covered: Employees, HBR case discussions, Hiring, Human resources management, Legal aspects of business, Right of privacy.

>CENSORED<
>CENSORED<

Morganism: Blogger Burnout Beware!

CENSORED-

To love another person is to see the face of God.- Victor Hugo

Blogging is a lonely activity, I know...I'm sitting here alone. However We're not alone!
According to Technorati, 1,75,000 blogs are being created everyday. Thats alot of Bloggers, and they probably have some of the same Blogger Block that Connie and I seem to be suffering from.
We're not doing this for the income, although that would be nice. We do this for the passion of writing and forming coherent thought and recording it here, we also enjoy sharing our viewpoints and opinions...and no one interupts with lame stories of (insert lame story here).
How can we combat this insideous malady?

1. Read More! If your drawing a blank, use the internet for inspiration or finding content
2. Start an Idea Morgue! This is such a great idea I'm starting mine today! If you come across something interesting make sure you bookmark it, or add it to your del.icio.us, so that you can draw inspiration from it later on.
3. Collaborate with other bloggers...which is exactly what we're doing.
4. Keep Improving your writing skills, grammar, spelling and punctuation.
5. Love your blog, add water and watch it grow it like sea monkeys

Free Blog Content

CENSORED-

I hope that after I die, people will say of me: "That guy sure owed me a lot of money."--Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

OurGirl: Phil Hartman, Shot to Death May 28, 1998

Phil Hartman, you are missed.



yeh, i know its not a hot trend. phil is pretty old school. but i do miss that guy. and chris farley. adsense will probably respond with a relevant ad six days from now. their head is still spinning from my clown remarks. now i'm just dorking with the blog to see what the magic eightball makes adsense post. mostly, i needed a relevant topic and i wanted to beat morgan in posting a utubey on the blog.

suc(k)cess!

connie has left the blog.

thank you and good night!

Morganje: Smoking Hot Trends!

Laura Ingalls Wilder and Mark Twain in the same post, Holy cow! How do I respond to that little bit of Americana, this Memorial Day. I'm sitting here at the Air Force Detachment (Non-Commissioned Officer on Duty) supervising the airmen returning from a long weekend. Hopefully they will all return without incident before bedchecks tonight. Back to work tommorow...ugh!

THE DARK ONE and I had a pretty good weekend we went to see the third installment of Pirates of the Caribbean. I really don't understand the public enthrallment with this piece of crap. The whole Davy Jones with tentacles and all the magical crap is just mind-numbingly boring...matter of fact I fell asleep, so did THE DARK ONE. My sleep apnea woke me up and there she was sleeping with her mouth open. Cute. Since that movie sucked and Squishykitkat was spending the weekend with friends...we went out again the next night. Now hold on, I know you don't believe this, but occasionally we have fun together (May is our anniversery Month...14 yrs I think) We went and saw Disturbia, which was a fun, fresh thriller starring my new favorite actor Shia LeBeouf, and Hot-Milf, Carrie Anne Moss. I kept expecting her to start running on the walls and shooting up the Matrix.

Oh, but that's not all...THE DARK ONE, asked me to go to the Smithsonian Museum this morning. I know, I know. I was expecting to get whacked or something! She just wanted a romantic day exploring the Holocaust Museum. Man that place is a downer. But a nice place to pay respects for the victims of the holocaust. Its hard to believe that Man is capable of such atrocities...that said, it was one of those days when you remember, why. Walking down those darken halls, hand-in-hand, watching her, read the exhibits...a sharp memory from the past, like a song forgotten...It's moments like these.

Love is a state in which a man sees things most decidedly as they are not. -- Friedrich Nietzsche

"UNNAMED ONE" and I are always looking at ways to improve the blog or shamelessly direct traffic to our site. The synergy and enthuisiasm of our efforts propelling us forward as we blog the world. Today I stumbled on to something that is interesting, a cross section of what America is interested in, what they are, or were searching for on any given date. Called Hot Trends from Google Labs its a list of 100 top searches for that day. Studying these topics and discovering why they are being searched is most captivating. I started brainstorming about how to leverage this into traffic...shameless, really. I understand why Marquis Hill is the number one search, he tragically drowned today in Lake Pontchartrain, LA. I know why Prospero Books is the number three search, because the owner is burning books in protest to the lack of interest in the printed word. However other searches have me completely baffled, Why are people, lots of people searching for grilled corn on the cob around 1:00pm today?

Captain Koons: The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any slopes gonna put their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright, so he hid it, in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then,
after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the
watch to you.

Our Girl: The Little House Gap Analysis

Bernie: Deadline: A date or time before which something must be done.

i looked for a lou grant quote, 'cause i'm a big fan of the hairy old dude and mrs. pychon, later known as tony's mother—oh, poor YOU—but i didn't find anything suitable. AND you can't go wrong with duvall.

i'm ecstatic that morgan is posting on an every other day schedule. this could save my marriage. i'm lucky to have a tolerant husband—much like laura ingall's almanzo.
.
growing up, a little house on the prairie book was always in my hands. i understood laura with my whole heart. laura was strong as a little french horse, a half-pint of cider half drunk up. as she was growing up, she was allowed to work with her father, whether stomping hay or twisting the slough grasses into stick bundles in order to keep the fire going through the long winter. she fished, she rode fast ponies with her cousins by the shores of silver lake and she was quick enough to catch cap garland's throw. and even though she wanted to remain a pioneer girl and wander the country, eventually, she married a farmer.

although i never intended to marry a farmer and have fought a good fight over the vineyard— looks like my life is going to run a parallel course on that as well. and i'm feeling happier about it. did you know i went to college close to mansfield for my freshman year, but never went to visit? i still have my laura books; they are waiting for my little girl that never came.

i just got my big guy to read huckleberry finn and tom sawyer, which he liked very much and finds it hard to believe momma's high school sweetheart came from hannibal, mo. but that was long ago and momma ran away from that life. well, that life and the other life where she was traveling through california with a man she wouldn't end up with, either, and she saw these dusty stores with cartoony frogs painted haphazardly on the windows. many, many frogs and suddenly she became really excited. where are we, she asked the man. are we in calaveras county?

how the hell should i know, asked the man. why do you care? well, said momma, mark twain wrote about a frog jumping contest in... and the man interrupted her and shouted, everyone knows mark twain lived in missouri. he was never in california. at that point, signs everywhere appeared promoting calaveras county and mark twain and frog jumping contests and for once, momma didn't need to rub it in but it didn't improve the man's attitude. and although i counted the days until my vacation was over and i could run away from that man, too, the california vacation was one of the best trips i have taken.

i look forward to taking my boys on a trip like that, long and loopy and exploring a whole coastline. my boys travel really well. now, though, it seems the only time i go back home is when there is a funeral. even so, i make sure the boys go up the st. louis arch and put their toes in the mississippi. they know where their momma is from. their momma gets less sure about it by the minute, though. its getting to be like cahokia mounds. my people are disappearing. i miss my family. i miss my home.

I have found out there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.
-Tom Sawyer Abroad

Morgie: History Repeats Itself...again

Yesterday I promised to wait a day before I posted, to hold back and give connie a break from my shock and awe blogging barrage. It was monumental effort to restrain myself and now here I am feverishly typing in the wee hours of the morn' before everyone wakes up. I read her post 4 times trying to formulate my response, and each time I paused on her reference to William Gacy. Insert flashback here...

The year was 1979, I was eleven years old with a Chicago Tribune sprawled across the living room floor. Reading about a horrific monster that slayed 33 young men and buried them below his house. I remember reading about tragic flight 191 which crashed at O' Hare airport May 25, 1979 after it's engine fell off on take-off. A picture of the plane rolling into the ground emblazoned across the front page, captured my attention. I remember the day by day reporting of the Iranian hostage situation. Although I didn't understand much, I ate it up. Looking back I wonder how healthy it was for me to be reading these stories of death and mayhem in the days before the Internet. I worry about my fascination for the macabre, morbid, mortality of the human figure...and it all started there in the little house on the prairie. Flash back ends...

"You don't touch the nose. You don't aspire to reach the nose. You don't unhook anything to get to a nose. And no man has ever tried to look up a woman's nostril." - Seinfeld

I don't know how every topic becomes a innuendo, or a double entendre but they somehow spiral out of control. If anyone is offended, I blame Connie, lol. Wikapedia my favorite if unreliable research tool had this to say about that.



Barrison Sisters

A double entendre is a figure of speech similar to the pun, in which a spoken phrase can be understood in either of two ways. This can be as simple as a phrase which has two mutually exclusive meanings, and is thus a clever play on words. An example of this would be the title of the short story, The Most Dangerous Game, by Richard Connell, in which the title can refer both to the "game" that is most dangerous to hunt, and "game" that is most dangerous to play.
But for many, perhaps even most, persons, a risqué, even sexual, element is central to their understanding of double entendre. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as 'A double meaning; a word or phrase having a double sense, especially as used to convey an indelicate meaning' [emphasis added]. In these cases, the first meaning is presumed to be the more innocent one, while the second meaning is risqué, or at least ironic, requiring the hearer to have some additional knowledge.
When innuendo is used in a sentence, it could go completely undetected by someone who was not familiar with the hidden meaning, and he or she would find nothing odd about the sentence (aside from other people finding it humorous for seemingly no reason). Perhaps, because an innuendo is not considered offensive to those who do not "get" the hidden implication, it is often prevalent in sitcoms and other comedy which would in fact be considered suitable for children. Children would find this comedy funny, but because most children lack understanding of the hidden implication in innuendo, they would find it funny for a completely different reason than most adult viewers.
The expressions may contain other forms of ambiguity, famous examples being the use of the word Logos in the Gospel of John and the phrase "Let him have it" allegedly said by Derek Bentley (see those articles for further details), but they would not normally be classed as double entendre.
Although an expression made of French words, it is not correct modern French; the French use the term double sens ("double sense [or meaning]") for such phrases. While the phrase "double entendre" has become common in the vocabulary of everyday American English, "double entendre" is in fact incorrect for "double entente", which in French translates to "a double or equivocal meaning; a play on words"

Speaking of words...A picture is worth a thousand words, right? That's why I love Google Maps, not to track the where abouts of Abu Mohamed, but to get a birds eye view of the places I have been lately. In the center of this image is a restaurant on the coast of Vietnam near Mui Ne with the most delectable beer and crabs imaginable. you can sit right next to the edge and see the waves breaking underneath the wooden floorboards which jut out over the water.

We know what we are, but know not what we may be. William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Our Girl: You Can Pick Your Friends...

Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley: Forgive me, Madam, but you are only a woman...
Elizabeth: [cuts him off] I may be a woman, Sir William, but if I choose I have the heart of a man!
Elizabeth: [firmly] I am my father's daughter, and I am not afraid of anything.

when i saw morgan's choice of a very william gacy-like image of hillary—wha? go ahead. google gacy clown images and compare to morgan's last post. i'll wait. and no thanks, i'll stay right here—

perv.

i thought—how bad could the rest of the image posts be?



yep. that pretty much says it. the horror to be in the public spotlight and have people not like you. if i was hillary, i think every time i saw a camera i would start picking my nose. the band-aid approach. just get it done and over with.


works for the queen. "oh dear, i thought this yellow hat wouldn't work with the hounds tooth suit....bullocks, the paparazzi!" see, this would explain why she's digging with a glove on.

and then i saw this miracle of marble resin:


>CENSORED<

a photo print has a shelf life of maybe 25-50 years, archived in a folder and stuck in a drawer in somebody's garage, but marble dust casting is forever. granted, you should expect the Museum of Sex to select material with a edge to it—but i defy you to find it here. um, guys, that would be the face area, up there. nudge the scroll bar, kitten. that's it. >CENSORED<

also, note to the creator of the fabulous garden sculpture bust: awesome mixing of fast food roman neoclassicism and harlequin romance cover. and that style mixed with the time-saving resin casting instead of messy, skill-requiring handcarving? brilliant! the piece oozes the dichotomy of your feelings for your subject matter. and—you should probably have a heart-to-heart talk with your mother asap. i don't think she meant it.

hillary confuses me. i should like her, she's a strong girl. i don't dig her politics, but i should be able to admire her desire to get things done. except i don't dig her manner. i find her shrill, also. is it in the voice? i think it is more than that 'cause i absolutely adore the goofy string of images above and i start to think she's a girl in need of a strong drink and a good laugh. but when i think of her and what i remember of her first four strident years, i just think she's a mean girl. i bet she could be a bully, too. but i don't get the impression she's sneaky.

what makes one strong girl likeable—but the other one, not? i think it comes down to charisma and if a strong girl is genuinely interested in other people. thanks, dale! you've been a major influence this year! I recommend this book: Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love. once you get over the hype and the feeling its a lightweight chick-lit book you find you're reading a pretty entertaining book filled with interesting women through history. any one of the women bio'ed in this book is researching so more.

...I who arrived deliberate as Tuesday
without my hat and shoes
with one rude black tattoo
and purpose thick as pumpkin.
One day I'll dangle
from your neck, public as a jewel.
One day I'll write my name on everything
as certain as a trail of bread.
I'll leave my scent of smoke.
I'll paint my wrists.
You'll see. You'll see.
I will not out so easily.
I was here. As loud as trumpet.
As real as pebble in the shoe.
A tiger tooth. A definite voodoo.
—My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Sandra Cisneros

Morgan's: Political Panties

I know, I know I told "UNNAMED ONE" I wouldn't post until tommorow but...damn! I just had to respond to her...post. She absolutely had me in tears, I was laughing so much. I had no intention of insinuating anything inappropriate, especially this soon after sexual harassment training. Which was today. I learned what ogling was...all this time I thought it was an abbreviation for googling.

It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me. - Batman

Seriously the Rozerem ad was innocent enough until I started researching the meaning or symbology of each character. Apparently I was the last person to realize that beaver can help with insomnia.

Very interesting dichotomy of images "UNNAMED ONE" has there. The portly southern fried Politician and the gaunt, dour lengendary emancipator, President Lincoln and his beaver. That's better than the choices we're being presented with this year before the big election. Mrs Bill Clinton, trying to make her shrill voice be heard by history. The young unproven Obama Barak, The seasoned Octagenarian form Arizona, the list goes on...I have no doubt that the republicans will be spanked this year, with the American People sending a mandate to Washington ripe with the stench of their discontent. I have a solution for all of us.








"UNNAMED ONE" was complaining about my lack of original content within my posts...So, I'm going to make a concentrated effort to improve the quality of my post unless I run into something interesting like...


Police Seek Owners of 1,300 Stolen Panties
AP
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (May 23) - Police are asking Colorado women a rather delicate question: Are these your panties? As part of an investigation into widespread underwear theft, police have invited women to view photos of about 1,300 undergarments stolen from laundry rooms near Colorado State University. Chih Hsien Wu, 43, is suspected of stealing $6,000 worth of undergarments between Sept. 23 and May 18. He was arrested on suspicion of felony theft, and his bail was set Wednesday at $15,000. It was not known whether he had an attorney. Police issued the invitation as part of an effort to see how many victims there are. But they won't get to reclaim their undergarments - at least not yet. Police say that once the case is closed, the victims can reclaim their underwear - if they still want it back.

So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived, or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - The Proud Highway, Hunter S. Thompson

Our Girl: >CENSORED<

image courtesy of homevideos.com

French: Hells Bells, Mr. Lund, if we don't the goddamned competition will.
Lund: Ohhhh mercy yes we got to beat that competition.

oh no she didn'....

>CENSORED< "oh, its the funny/odd/i-don't-get-the-old-timey-nautical-diver rozerem ads" but my brain works like this: morgan+rozerem ad= me shouting in my headline: >CENSORED<

to which my brother shouts: CHECKMATE!

and i fall for it every time. thank god he moved on to become a role-model instructor for the enlisted artistically-inclined. he used to get me into ALOT of trouble. besides, i just like those ads. honest, beav. here is a link to an article explaining the symbolism for each dream character.

speaking of checkmate, Hasan Elahi figured out a big checkmate to suspect profiling: he tracks himself for them. he considers it sort of a part-art project/part-ultimate protecting of his privacy. he posts about a hundred images of himself per day on his web site and he documents his receipts of debit card transactions. he even has a GPS device in his pocket that shows his real-time physical location on a map. (between you and me, the dude needs to cut down on his caffeine consumption. or i should invest in starbucks stock) all this happened because Elahi was mistakenly listed on US terrorist watch list. he figures this keeps him out of Guantanamo.

when i first read the article, i was afraid this was how the morgan and byrne (fortified with WALSH now, too!) would end up. with our competitiveness in trying to out post the other, i could see us giving in to the just posting pics of us and wearing gps navigators.

"People are always blaming circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."
—Mrs. Warren's Profession, George Bernard Shaw

Morgan: Say Hello to my little friend! Competition!

Competitiveness is the new buzzword in Washington, DC. Many public and private
leaders proclaim that the United States faces a new and formidable competitiveness
challenge. Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats unveiled their Innovation Agenda in late 2005. President Bush announced his American Competitiveness Initiative in the 2006 State of the Union Address. And Congress has introduced several major legislative packages addressing competitiveness.

Yes, my friend and Sister twice removed, "UNNAMED ONE" has a little competitiveness streak. Me on the other hand, low-key, happy go-lucky jackball am content with my lot in life. Not! Yes it's true I have egged her on in the past with acts of physical prowess, strength and speed. But it was for a purpose to make her stronger, yes I had an hidden agenda. Well I really didn't have to do much as she was one of the most competitive people I have ever met.

Lets clarify what competition means to me. I have heard some people speak disparagingly against competitiveness like it was a personality flaw. It's not...these people are LOSERS. I embrace competition so that I can improve myself. Each year the American people spend 115 million dollars on self-help books and aids, when I have the secret right here. Compete. I compete with myself first and foremost. I guess it started years ago with long distance running, and carried over to the Pedometer challenge, and my most recent goal of hiking the Appalachian trail. When the body starts to age and slow down I continually adjust the competition or seek new challenges like Poker, X-box or commuting on the beltway. Illustration Friday is a competition with myself, manipulating traffic to my blog site and blogging is a competition...not with "UNNAMED ONE", but with myself...maybe I am a little sick.

My class graduated yesterday and I announced, with much fanfare, the debut of Combat Scribblers. I explained the "competition" loosely disguised as a showcase of talent. The students stared blankly back at me...I could hear the distinctive chirping of crickets....

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep. - Robert Frost

Our Girl: This Once Had a Brilliant Title, But I Dorked It Up and Can't Remember What I Wrote

image courtesy of flixster.com

Lefty Ruggiero: Anywhere you go, all around the world, all the best cooks are men.

See, this is the thing with my brother and me—a hyper-sense of competitiveness. we had a deal to write alternating posts. so last night, i set about writing my post. i love the solitude quote from marquez. i rub my hands briskly together and consult my ultimate magic 8ball: google— get my topic together, start the posting and for whatever reason, i view the blog. whaa? morgie is there, already posting away—working on sleeplessness for a topic.

man.

dude's gonna try to outpost me! i don't think so! so i furiously hack away at my topic—brilliantly linking several postings together and ending with a flourish. woo! check the clock, view the blog. dude. is. done. dammit. background: morgana and i used to work together and would come up with various jackball competitions we took very seriously. walsh can attest. like "who can perform the most push-ups in a minute"—morgan: 60/byrne: 45. dammit. or while we are running laps—"i got a v-8 in me, what do you got?" byrne: v-6. dammit. during this time, i became convinced we share DNA somewhere in our background. some posts later i'll do a gap analysis on us both. there won't be too many gaps.

i have the exact opposite relationship with my husband, so i'm convinced that he and i do not share the same DNA. which is a relief, since we tend to sleep in the same bed. without gadgets, unless you consider megazords and power ranger action figures gadgets. i don't consider children gadgets, either and i'll often find a child asleep in my bed. yes, i'm a co-sleeper. oh, sit down. here is an article i use to justify my actions for the past two babies. sue me. i'm pro-sleep.

sandwiches can help tie a growing toddler over at bedtime. my husband is particularly gifted at sandwiches. he was also once a sous chef, so i think that may have something to do with it. my favorite sandwich of his is the terminator: corned beef, homemade coleslaw, swiss and thousand island dressing. oh man. toasted. but he can make any sandwich awesome. during our weddingmoon, my husband made a sandwich from pita, hummus, peppers, shredded cheese, rice, squash, diced tomatoes, crushed dorito chips and smoked oysters. mattie—maker of a creme brulee that i swore made me hear angels—declared it one of the most perfect combo sandwich ever. 'course, that was after a heavy night of rum in st. john.

I often drank there, but I was never accepted because I wore a tie. The real people wanted no part of me.
- The Rum Diary

Morgan: Sleeping Alone? Your Gadgets May Be at Fault

Gina Hughs
Wed May 16, 2007 11:02PM EDT

Generally, I assume most couples usually sleep in the same bed, but a report by WCCO says more and more couples are sleeping in separate beds, sometimes room. They point out that 67 percent of American women have sleeping problems, and 75 percent of all adults wake in the night or snore, but another reason your partner is sleeping on the couch might be attributed to your constant connection to your office. That's right, the report says the increase of email and text messaging in the bedroom are two reasons couples say they prefer to sleep alone. Click here to read the rest of the article. http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/hughes/12582

The comments are really funny...See Comments (209)

Sis, I posted the above article before I could refresh and see your latest post below. All I can say is "It's Uncanny" how we think alike! As for the Jackball's Visualization Dashboard...This is the very thing I teach against in class, "Make your site navigation Intuitive!" I don't think this guy could get a job in a hindu temple! It is mesmerizing in a sick @#$% kind of way.

"You know, we are sitting here, you and I, like a couple of regular fellas. You do what you do, and I do what I gotta do. And now that we've been face to face, if I'm there and I gotta put you away, I won't like it. But I tell you, if it's between you and some poor bastard whose wife you're gonna turn into a widow, brother, you are going down." - guess who!

Our Girl: Feel the Beat of the Algorithms of the Night

dance until the morning light
Forget about the worries on your mind
You can leave them all behind
—Rhythm of the Night, DeBarge

in researching blog traffic for this posting (meaning: i googled "blog traffic"), i came across many, many blogs discussing insomnia—individuals detailing (some, bragging) their nightly wrestling match with sleep. i have a simple cure: stay away from the legion of Morgan's websites! they suck you in! they are numerous and all are engaging and his blogs will keep you clicking page after page, post after post—ad after ad (not that i'm encouraging behavior that will get us kicked off of Adsense). next thing you know, you're watching bird porn late into the wee hours. heh. i typed "wee."

and of course, all of the above fluff is really a set up so i may now bring to my brother's attention this illustration from a really cool website:



this guy creates what he calls information visualizations (walsh, he may be my polysyllabic soul mate—no offense, morgan.) that are really works of art. in his article >click the link!< he discusses representing the data as a network and then how they used algorithms for the node linkage (sounds like someone with a stuffy nose needing a tissue), using large circles for representing frequent of revision activity and a whole bunch of other sexy smart things that makes the flonde in me think: mmm. red dots. he's really hot.

there are several other information visualizations you should go take a peep at. i'm bookmarking this blog. matter of fact, blog-dude—if you ever come across this post—you should make posters of these things! its like graphic design porn. it will be posted on every designer's grey cubbie across the world and the designers will stare wistfully at it for hours on end, wishing they could have a peice of that. it might even keep them up at night.

Morgan: Bona Fide Traffic wrangler heating up!

Hello! 1025 Hits on my other Blog "Rhinosphere" in Less than two Months! I'm becoming quite the Traffic wrangler driving traffic to my site. If you click on the above example you can witness a traffic spike that started this morning because I posted on Illustration Friday. In those two months I earned $2.90 from Adsense, which is not alot...but all great things, start small.

I'm excited about the new blog I created "Combat Scribblers" which will not see the high traffic. but will have original content...a niche audience.

I don't know if blogging is contributing to global warming or preventing it. On one hand you have computers overheating and blowing hot air everywhere. However computers are significantly cooler than automobiles...ergo, if your reading my blog instead of driving, your helping the environement.

Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work
Booker T Washington (1856-1915)

In the meantime, through an oversight that José Arcadio BuendÍa never forgave himself for, the candy animals made in the house were still being sold in the town. Children and adults sucked with delight on the delicious little green roosters of insomnia, the exquisite pink fish of insomnia, and the tender yellow ponies of insomnia, so that dawn on Monday found the whole town awake. - - One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez

Our Girl: Hot Time in the Old Town, Belize It or Not.

Tommy Johnson: I had to be up at that there crossroads last midnight, to sell my soul to the devil.
Ulysses Everett McGill: Well, ain't it a small world, spiritually speaking. Pete and Delmar just been baptized and saved. I guess I'm the only one that remains unaffiliated.
—Oh Brother, Where for Art Thou?

amish + belize = ice cube manufacturing—in an era of global warming, it makes one prayful for the amish exogamy program upping the common sense ante into the gene pool. silly amish. nobody is gonna alleviate global warming trying to cool the climate with an ice cube plant. heh. that was a funny idea. and in the spirit of our elliptical way of choosing topics—fictionally, Melquiades and the gipsies had tried introducing the cool stuff into the hot tropics before:

"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
—One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez


man i loved that book. i think i've read it over five times. cant beat latin magical realism. oh, and speaking of a good read? this month's Vanity Fair. every article is magic! the sushi article? yeh, me? i'll never eat the spicy tuna, again.



personally, i think the nature conservancy may be on to a more common sense approach with their rio bravo climate action project. their aim is to save more than 153,000 acres of forest in northwest belize—a project that is being partnered with the programme for belize. hot s! the u.s. is cooperating with someone? well, yes, kitten and it could mitigate up to 8.8 million tons of cabon dioxide over 40 years. which is nice step in the right direction, since our global sink is full.

and when the global sink is full—the dishes in the sink are bound to look a little yucky.

Morgan: Amish Hot Sauce

Some intersting facts about the Amish...They are considered an ethnic group since they marry within their group. There are approximately 198,000 in the USA. Some Amish have been emigrating to Belize recently to make ice cubes presumably.




They don't have to pay taxes, since they don't take advantage of Social Security Benefits...hmmm I wonder if I could get away with that...I would like to opt out of SSN, because you guys suck!

"Be not yoked with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" (II Corinthians 6:14) The Amish often cite this verse to maintain there separation from the rest of the world, which is ironically the same verse my Father quoted to me, when I told him I was getting married to Miss Saigon. Makes a guy wish for Rumspringa! However, there is an increasing consciousness among the Amish of the advantages of exogamy. Now that is a triple word score!

Here is an interesting Article in Wired magazine about the Amish
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.06/1.6_amish.html




Speaking of Ms Saigon, here we are at Buffalo Wing University in Fairfax last night. I tried the "DOA" Hot sauce and thought I was going to die. For ten minutes I just stuck my mouth in a glass of water while she laughed. And I'm still paying for my gastric deviation today...Boy that's some Hot Sauce!

Our Girl: Ornithologists and the Amish

whoa. btw, the exchange rate last night was two rodents for a quick pop. somebody hand me a sharp stick. i need to poke my eyes out.

—what?! i was freelancing last night and the osprey fell asleep on me, i was curious. i can quit anytime.

ornithologists. who knew?

i love the human condition. >CENSORED<. the amish in southern maryland seem to enjoy their own contradictions as well. witness the image below:


hmm. amish butter. kitten, get momma a biscuit. and it is delicious, i bought some yesterday and then noticed the dichotomy. simple butter in a plastic extruded cooler. but hey. it. was. butter.

then i looked at the farmer's market with a critical eye. horses to draw buggies. simple clothed people. homemade cakes, pies, preserves—and now plants for the garden. only i look at the plants. these are clearly plants from a wholesale gardening company. i saw them at my local home depot/lowes/grocery store on my way out to the farm. who cares, byrne?

ok—so why with the "women should use straight pins to pin their clothes" together conceit? throw the girl a plain button. you're allowing her to sell her homemade goodies in coolers, negotiate with heartless plant vendors and all the while she's gotta move carefully or she gets a stick from a straight pin. i'm thinking—how decorative is a black button?

Morgan: Bird Watching? How about Bird Stalking

Thank You

I've been looking all over for some streaming Barn Owl Porn... Yes! 
I watched every intriguing detail of their copulation and
gestation and rodent swallowing.
Very Nice!

Careful this probably violates some wildlife privacy laws!

Jeff "Hooo" Morgan

Girl Confession: I Dig Watching Wild Birds.

its a dorky passion, but i'm all over it. it rivals my seashell addiction, its that bad. i keep a bird identification book and i actually write down all the birds i see out my back door. i know. im a child in my predilections.

please to be imagining my joy at finding this page:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse/nestboxcam/

most nests will be active in the morning and early evening. right now, 8-9 am is great.

most satisfying cams:
ithaca ny killdeer—live streaming video of a momma nesting! so close you can watch her breathe! tidbits of grass in front of the camera gives that heightened feeling of being hidden.

lake barkley, ky opsprey nest—super cool. momma and daddy are constantly feeding the fledglings fresh kills! this cam refreshes every 30 seconds.

i especially like putting both of these cams side by side--one is a floor nester that eats bugs and the other is a carnivorous platform dweller! sweet!

not satisfying, but you may have better luck:
the owl cam. i get nothing.

so i send this to you 'cause i think your kids would enjoy it. boy2 doesnt cause they dont morph into a megazord.

i still think its pretty sweet. hope your kids do, too.