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Showing posts with the label Index D

Don’t Worry, Dotcom! No Need to Move Over – Not Just Yet, Anyway!

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Original Image: Ingemar Johansson v. Floyd Pattersson 1959 Wikipedia: Public Domain Photo ________________ “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T. S. Eliot _________________ Okay, it’s time to weigh in once again on the new gTLDs (pro) and gTLDs (con) , and the preliminary numbers aren’t pretty. As of today, just a smidge over 1,000,000 new G’s have been registered for the 200 + released thus far, and some of those are a result of padding (also known as papering the house , as defined by veteran domainer Ron Jackson of DNJournal.com ), via registrations “gifted” to often unknowing .com registrants. (See also Domain Incite .) I’m not going into this ethical lapse here, because in the long run, I don’t think it will matter in terms of overall success or failure, although it always matters when a business or individual sets out to deceive potential customers into buying a questionable product. If you are not already fam

Dear Aunt.Sexy...

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Dear Aunt.Sexy ______________ When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice. — Saul Bellow ______________________ Need advice? Aunt.Sexy is here! Shoot your question here: Dear [at] Aunt.Sexy Or if you are still stuck on .com: Dear [at] AuntSexy.com About Aunt.Sexy

Does the Internet Spell the End of Journalism as We Once Knew It?

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By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. – Oscar Wilde ________________________ (Note: This article, in a slightly different form, was originally posted on JI , July 11, 2009.)   On a typical day, as I check my Facebook timeline, I am served up a menu of human interest stories, hard news; selfies; memes (political, comic, inspirational); videos of dancing cats; links to sites, most of them biased toward my point of view; family news; mild cheesecake photos shared by one friend; inspirational shares by friends and acquaintances; and comments by friends. I have noticed that the outrageous, the extreme scenarios, seem to rule as breathless memes shout out the latest stupid and outrageous politician remark (on my timeline, Sarah Palin seems to be the most popular former-politician celebrity to deride). Then there are the blogs I visit, some offering industry news and others pushing their own product

Dear Aunt.Sexy, I Need Urgent Advice About My Future...

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Allegorie der Musik Lorenzo Lippi, 1606-1665 Wikipedia ___________________  Dear Aunt.Sexy (I blush at such a flagrant use of this s**y word and am puzzled by that strange dot between the words in this salutation), I need urgent advice about my future. I am a 17th century composer of serious musical scores, a young lady on the cusp of breaking out into a major musical career. I should very much like to continue on this path, but Father says I must marry soon, as I am 16, soon to be considered unmarriageable. As each day passes without a young man calling, Father grows more desperate for my future. My problem: I do not wish to marry – ever ! I merely want to remain in my room, writing scores, and occasionally attending concerts with my family. However, Father says I must find a well-off husband to support me. I have already sold several of my scores to famous musical houses, but under a male pseudonym, so I know that I would be able to support myself as a spin

Darwin in Action: The 2013 Darwins Are Out!!!!

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Darwin in Action ________ Yes, it’s that magical time of year again when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honoring the least evolved among us. I received this exciting news via email and was asked to spread the word. Given my discomfort for sending mass emails, I decided to post this breathless announcement on this blog. First, the Honorable Mentions, starting with 10th Place: 10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street by sucking on a hose, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline, but he plugged his siphon hose into the motor home’s sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best laugh he’d ever had and the perp had been punished enough!  [*A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER] 9. The Ann Arbor Ne

Disney World: A Zen Question...

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If Disney World is the happiest place in the world, then why are there so many bawling, screaming, out-of-control children running around, many of them donned in those godawful and overpriced princess dresses? What a clusterf**k!

Dear Google: Thank You! (And How to Paragraph on Blogger)

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Google ____________ Dear Google, In the past, I have complained mightily, especially when you changed the blogger platform from the really simple one to the current one. There is still much that I don’t like about the platform – in particular the lighter print and heavily-laden bells and whistles, which takes blogger forever to load, and being forced to change over to Chrome to take advantage of the positive changes. Putting all that aside, I will tell you, my readers, what I love about the new platform and how to create your own sweet-looking posts. Have you noticed that my recent posts are nicely paragraphed and spaced (almost unheard of on blogs)? That I can now use curly quotation marks instead of the straight up and down ones? That my spacing makes my text easier to read? All of this without writing one whit of code. How can that be? First, I write my post on MS Word, highlight it with my mouse, hit “Ctrl+c”, and move the text to my blogger post box (Ctrl+v)

“Dealer’s Hand”: The.Best.Lead. – EVER...

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F Hadley, 1971 Paris Street After a Rain (The Webmaster's title) Apologies for the awful photograph ___________________ Well, okay. Maybe I’m overstating my opinion, but let’s just say that I have stumbled upon one of the best lead-ins I have ever encountered in a magazine article, a form not typically viewed as great literature. “Dealer’s Hand,” a profile of David Zwirner, a noted gallery owner who caters to the insanely rich and famous – not just mere millionaires – takes the reader into the world of high-end art sales and buying (Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker , December 2, 2013). The first paragraph – hell, the first sentence – sucks in the reader totally and sets the tone for the rest of the profile: Very important people line up differently from you and me. They don’t want to stand behind anyone else, or to acknowledge wanting something that can’t immediately be had. If there’s a door they’re eager to pass through, and hundreds of equally or even more impo

Double-Strike 1994 Quarter? Found in My Change Today...

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Double-struck (?) 1994 quarter, front and back _______________________________________ While hunting for parking meter coins, I found the above quarter, so I pulled it from the general small change pile. I don't know if it's really a double-struck coin or if human intervention (not me!) was involved or even if it being double-struck by the U.S. mint would make it valuable or just a curiosity. Those blobs in the front and back are copper (?) showing through. If you're a coin collector and you stumble upon this post, tell me what you think (comments section).

Decluttering and Shedding STUFF and Battling Affluenza, the American Disease

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Zayre's Receipt From 9/24/1989 Found in My Attic on 1/16/2012 ___________________________________________ My hubby and I suffer from a uniquely American disease called Affluenza : too much "stuff" and not enough room for it. After a financially bleak 1980's to the mid 1990's, we went on a buying spree that has lasted through the 21st century. Actually, it's not the buying that has landed us in a house stuffed full of "stuff." It's the not getting rid of old stuff that the new stuff was supposed to replace. Our attic looks like those homes featured on Hoarders : stacked boxes and boxes and boxes, some of them marked "1988." 1988? Seriously? The house itself, while a little full and messy, is still in the manageable range, but on the edge of Hoarders' territory. Dishes are always done, kitchen and food organized, bed made, laundry up-to-date, things mostly put away. However, it's got that bulgy look of having too many

"De Calf!" A Goofy Poem (for Rhia)

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I am spending a perfectly goofy day with Rhia, my granddaughter, drawing pictures (Rhia) and writing goofy poems (me). Rhia noticed this "De Calf" magnet notepad on our refrig, something that has been there forever and largely unnoticed, but credit a kid for noticing details like that--always seeing things in a new way. So we have been playing around with drawings (see Rhia.tv for some of her drawings from the past two days) and poems on it. I wrote this silly piece of fluff (Pictured in image above) for Rhia: There was a little calf Who loved to swim in decaf, The hotter and sweeter The better, sometimes With cream, Sometimes not, But always diving in With a toothy grin. Sometimes it's just good to have a frivolous day with someone you love.

Definitely Close to Home ;=)

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Caption: "I have no idea what it is, but it was only five bucks!" _______________________________________ This "Close to Home" cartoon hits. nail. on. head. There's a good reason why my son Eric is building a shed on our property. Jerry and I are pack rats: books, papers, rocks, stuffed animals, art work, glassware, paperweights, oddities, etc., etc. Our house is built on a slab, so no basement, and our attic is small and stuffed full. We have a storage locker (not full), but why pay a monthly rent when we can own our own storage area on property? Still, building a shed is not a license to drag home more "cool" items, but to create a staging area to go through the "stuff" we currently have so that we can organize, toss, or give away items and empty out the locker and organize the house better. However, it's difficult to organize when you don't have a place to put things. Later on, I hope to re-purpose the storage shed i

Dear Google...

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I would like to be able to turn off the so-called instant search feature. Please, I don't want your search engine telling me what it thinks I want and taking me where I don't want to be. Sometimes, I AM looking for variant spellings and even misspellings and uncommon terms, but this new feature (which I despise) is always messing me up and actually slowing down my searches. Also, it does NOT work smoothly, so... PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, turn off the damn thing and allow me to do MY searches MY way. The above was sent off to Google via its "How can we improve Google?" Actually the category was "I have a suggestion or want to share positive feedback." Well, my suggestion does not offer positive feedback--I find the so-called instant search feature insulting and annoying. It's herky jerky and often freezes up, sometimes crashing my computer. Search pages often stop working, and I have to reload, so how is that an improvement? But most import

The (Non) Dieter’s Prayer

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Tempt us. Lead us into temptation. Embrace all that is good for our bodies, And good for our souls. Eat well, eat healthy, eat for pleasure and love. Eat foods we love. Chocolate, Cherries, Cheese, Pasta, Nuts, and Seeds... Tomatoes. Temptations for our palettes. The secret? Moderation in all good things. Enjoy delicious, high-octane food; But plan for these special occasions: Births, baptisms, weddings, holidays, and more. Moderation in all good things. In our daily lives, We learn sleight of menu: We create healthy pizza, low-fat spaghetti and meat balls, And corn on the cob– Add a dash of spice to the palette– And cut the saturated fat. And don’t forget the skinny ice cream. Lower fat, lower sugar, lower refined carbs Can equal delectable. Never be hungry, Do not go hungry Most of all: Enjoy life, Enjoy all.

A Down Day Today and Memoir Madness: Driven to involuntary commitment

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Jennifer Semple, Age 19 (1970) One year after she was released from the institution ______________________ Some personal issues have come up today, and I don't know what to do about them. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about them because they apply to me only indirectly, so I'll just have to continue worrying and fretting. Perhaps I should just jump on the treadmill and work out feelings that way. Or maybe work on my book Memoir Madness: Driven to involuntary commitment ; yes, I have changed the title from I, Driven: memoir of involuntary commitment --the new title came to me in a dream, and it just seems to fit. However, I need to do a bit of tweaking to the text itself. I just love the multiple meanings of "madness"--craziness, anger, and mania, all of which are contained in my memoir. The I, Driven title has never been, in my view, a satisfactory one, more like a placeholder until a better title came along, and so it has. The old titl

Do NOT Accept...Bad Behavior

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Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe About a month ago, I did something that is generally out of character for me: I posted something nasty on someone else's blog. This is difficult to admit, especially in a public forum, but it must be faced. I won't go into details because the specifics are less important than the act itself, which falls under the heading of "bad behavior." The owner of the blog did the right thing and called me out (on a PM) on what I had said, and he was absolutely right. Even so, I was about to respond in a snarky manner, but then my brain started working right for a change: I stopped my finger in midair from pressing the publish button. "Whoa!" I told myself. "What are you doing?" Then I felt shame because I had forgotten my manners; I was a guest (probably unwanted) on the blogger's site; I was acting like a total Neanderthal and about to compound my idioc

Don't Forget Father's Day

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A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money. --John Ruskin Tomorrow is Father's Day. Be sure to honor your dad; it doesn't have to be anything major. Just spend some time with him--take him to dinner, movie, or sports event. What you choose does not have to be expensive; Dad just wants to spend some time with you. Also, if you have a special step dad, don't forget him. At least send him him a card and give him a call. But if you are close to both Dad and Step dad, you can honor both dads. Have a good one!

A Difficult and Inconvenient Truth...

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If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die. --Maya Angelou This is a difficult truth to accept: The more weight I lose, the better strangers treat me. I wish it weren't so because while this better treatment might benefit me personally, this suggests that our culture has much work to do in terms of accepting difference on all fronts. And that saddens me. I don't want to be privileged over someone else just because I'm thinner (or younger, prettier, etc.). Privilege ought to be earned, through accomplishments and good deeds, not because of superficial features, such looks, race, age, or size. As I continue to slim down, I'm going to keep this thought firmly in mind and treat all people with the respect they deserve. It would be so easy to forget where I started; this post is my reminder. Peace and respect to all.

Diet Programs and Weight Maintenance

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I am the one who got myself fat, who did all the eating. So I had to take full responsibility for it. --Kirstie Alley Let me say this right up front: I have failed at EVERY diet program I have tried. Yes, in almost every case, I have taken off the weight successfully. That has never been the problem for me. I'm the Queen of the weight-loss program circuit; I have spent most of my adult life in search of the Holy Grail, the definitive answer to my weight problem. But I have never been able to keep the lost pounds off. I want this time to be different; I want to be part of the 5%-7% who keeps the weight off for two years or more. Who doesn't? None of us join a program expecting failure in our future. However, NONE of the existing weight loss programs really address weight maintenance. I believe that Weight Watchers comes the closest but is not quite there yet. Perhaps it's because there is little profit in maintenance programs. Diet programs make their

Do You Believe in Fate?

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Jennifer Semple's bus ticket receipt and ticket envelope from May 1, 1969 ________________________________ Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence . --Ralph Waldo Emerson I'm not sure that I believe in fate per se , but I do believe that a series of small decisions can move people in unexpected directions. Forty-two years ago, I made a decision that dramatically changed the course of my life. The above images represent this major shift in my life, but it didn't occur all of a sudden--a series of events, some minor and some major--led me to leave Iowa and escape to Pennsylvania, where I have lived ever since. I wrote a memoir about this shift; if you're curious, I have posted some excerpts from it here . Had I not moved to Pennsylvania, my life would have been dramatically different--how, I don't know. I suspect that my life would have been less successful, but who knows? Maybe that "movie agent" who approached me on the stree

Memoir Madness: Driven to Involuntary Commitment