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At least according to Jimbeau of Squeeze OC. ;-D
In 1866 Internet fees would have been $5 per word.
He apparently spent a few minutes earlier this months stressing out over what it would be like "if we had to pay comparative prices for our internet communications."
"Use the internet…Save a tree", he writes. ;-D
The good news would be that such fees would elimate a lot of the crap online and in e-mail.
The bad news is that most everyone else would not be able to afford to go online. ;-D
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Or maybe it was Chihuameranian?
All I know for sure it that it was NOT a cat. ;-D
A 3 lb. bundle of barking excitement, named Tink, helped police run down one of 4 fleeing suspects who crashed their vehicle, on Christmas Day.
Tink found one hiding under a neighbors motor home and chased him into the woods. ;-D
This was an AP Story that could be found in newspapers all across the country today, according to Daddy. ;-D
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On Dec. 20th Michelle Slatalla wrote an story in the Gray Lady about Bookcrossing and her experiences as a new member.
The idea behind BookCrossing.com is simple. You drop off a book in a public place. Or pick up one someone else left behind. Eventually the whole world becomes one big, free library...
BookCrossing.com seemed like poetic justice. The Internet, which threatens to replace good, old-fashioned books with soulless bits of downloadable information that readers have to click through, instead was extending the lives of my paper friends...
I love a treasure hunt. But bookcrossing turned out to be a lot harder than I had expected.
That’s partly because when you release a book, you can’t attract attention. Drop a paperback on the condiments bar at Peet’s, and the last thing you want is to hear, “Hey, lady, you forgot your copy of ‘Ulysses’ and somebody just sprinkled cinnamon on it.”
More complications: All the books I tried to catch were mysteriously gone by the time I reached their release sites, even as the books I dropped disappeared without a trace. You would think that, with 260,000 registered bookcrossers nationwide — 2,119 in San Francisco — one of them could spare the time to stop by a hospital lobby to pick up a perfectly good copy (hardcover!) of “The Wind in the Willows” and then log in to report the finding.
I think it took her a while to get the idea that members of BookCrossing make up a tiny percentage of those who "Catch" a book that has been "Released". ;-D
She mentions that there are BookCrosser groups on Facebook and YouTube, which I will find time to look into in the new year.
She finally contacted the Godfather of BookCrossing for enlightenment:
I also phoned Scott Sorochak, the chief executive of BookCrossing, for pointers.
“It’s all about serendipity,” he said.
“That’s the key?” I asked.
Only about 33 percent of the books released “in the wild” are picked up by bookcrossers within 30 days, he added.
“Not to sound Type A or anything, but I want to catch one now,” I said.
Well, here's where things got interesting.
How she finally makes her first "Catch" is cool, not to mention rather romantic, hee, hee. ;-D
When BookCrossers worldwide learned of the story they stepped forward to offer her ideas on how to increase her catch rate for wild releases.
There a thread in the Announcements forum letting people know about the article and another one in Release Techniques that was set up to share the "wealth of ideas to help this newbie BookCrosser, and others like her, improve the rate of the number of her wild releases that are picked up."
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From Nikita and I...
Merry Christmas to all who stop by today and a Happy New Year!
I work today and plan to stay at home tomorrow, my day off, and watch a few movies. ;-D
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I was going to reveal how it was all the fault of Frank, Joe, Nancy, Captain Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise that I became an incurable Bookaholic, but realizing we'd be here thru Christmas Day, or even the New Year, I decided to instead leave you with a Baker's Dozen list of books I'd highly recommend any time of the year.
In print, or out, they can still be bought through the usual suspects found online, including Amazon:
1. AMERICA: THE LAST BEST HOPE - V.1: From the Age of Discovery to a World at War by William J. Bennett.
2. AMERICA THE LAST BEST HOPE - V.2: From a World at War to The Triumph of Freedom by William J. Bennett.
3. A PATRIOT'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen.
4. LIBERTY AND FREEDOM: A Visual History of America's Founding Ideas by David Hackett Fischer.
5. THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT GUIDE TO THE CONSTITUTION by Kevin R. C. Gutzman.
6. THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT GUIDE TO CAPITALISM by Robert P. Murphy.
7. THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT GUIDE TO ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE by Elizabeth Kantor.
8 THE STORY OF BRITAIN: From The Romans to the Present - A Narrative History by Rebecca Fraser.
9 THE FAITH: A History of Christianity by Brian Moynahan
10. FLAG: An American Biography by Marc Leepson.
11. INFAMOUS SCRIBBLERS: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Begginnings of Ameican Journalism by Eric Burns.
12. HOW TO RAISE AN AMERICAN: 1776 Fun and Easy Tools, Tips, and Activities to Help Your Child Love This Country by Myrna Blyth and Chriss Winston.
13. THE IMAGE: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America by Daniel J. Boorstin.
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Can I get a rousing AMEN BROTHER! from the congregation? :-D
"I have always felt that it was commendable to buy books. I grew up with a liking for reading my own books, instead of someone else's. This preference I still have. I have my books strictly for use. I turn down the pages. I even tear out a few, if I need them. Books that I really use are much the worse for wear when I get through with them. I always mark them. When I read one of them a second time, which I seldom do, I generally can't remember what I meant by the marks I put in it the first time. But it gives you a feeling of having dug deep into the book, and it intensifies your sense of the ownership of it, to make big black marks down the side of it as you read. So I have always felt that one should buy as many books as possible. They are not like food, of which one should buy only as much as one can consume at the moment. Nor like clothes, of which a wise man will buy as few and as cheap as he can get by with. But of books he should buy all he can."
Rev. Carl S. Patton's opening paragraph in THE BUYING OF BOOKS from the Feb. 1922 issue of The Atlantic Monthly ( Must be a member of the website to read the article.).
I read this paragraph and see myself...
I love reading books that I choose to read and that I own and I used to turn down the pages until I got religion and converted to using certain types of colored paperclips.
Continue reading "Seeing myself in an An Early 20th Century Bookaholic " »
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Damn the Japanese! What the hell were they thinking?
This just in, courtesy of the AP:
Japanese scientists say they've used genetic engineering to create mice that show no fear of felines, a development that may shed new light on mammal behavior and the nature of fear itself.
Scientists at Tokyo University say they were able to successfully switch off a mouse's instinct to cower at the smell or presence of cats — showing that fear is genetically hardwired and not learned through experience, as commonly believed...
The genetically altered mice approached cats, even snuggled up to them and played with them.
Snuggle? SNUGGLE???
Oh, my!
This ain't natural!
Remove a few nasal cells and the little critters think they are Mighty Mouse!
Listen guys...you want to "shed further light on how the brain processes information about the outside world" and "shed new light on mammal behavior and the nature of fear itself", do so with some other critter, not one whose resulting change in outlook will put Mousers, worldwide, out of work.
Not to mention line the pockets of Cat Therapists and Feline Psychiatrists.
This is just too much!
I need a nap.
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Daily News Haiku says it all in its response to the news that the Cubs have signed a Japanese Baseball star with an, um, interesting name. ;-D
So Couch Potatoes, especially ones with kids, um, are you ready for a TV broadcast of a Cubs home game where, when he comes to bat, or hits the game winning homer, the whole stadium erupts in a standing O, chanting "FUKU, FUKU, FUKU!!!" ? ;-D
***UPDATE - 12/14***
The Rangers saw what the Cubs did and opened their checkbook for one of their own, so their fans can say it too. ;-D
Oh, and 1 other thing: With a name like mine, and having experienced the cruel teasing of 60's era White Elementary School Kids in a Liberal to its core College Town, I can sympathize with these 2 guys as they spend their lives explaining to the ignorant, "No, No, it's pronounced THIS way." ;-D
***END UPDATE***
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This just in!
Catholic School Official takes charge of her students:
GROSSE POINTE PARK, Mich. - There is one Sister that won't put up with foul language on the God**** playground at HER school, and she's not above repeating very F****** word and phrase she knows (All 100 of them!) to make sure everyone understands what she won't tolerate.
The principal of a local Catholic School had students stay after a Mass last month and informed the filthy-minded fifth- through eighth-graders that she has a zero-tolerance policy for their sinful cursing on campus.
Just in case anyone wasn't clear on the concept, the Good Sister read off a list of the very words and phrases that she was banning, from A to Z (Slowly, the 2nd time, just to make sure no-one in the room missed anything.).
"It got a little quiet in church and some of the kids facial expressions were clearly of the 'Oh, My GOD!' and 'What the F***? Did she say what I just heard her say?' variety '" during her talk, she told the Detroit Free Press.
Some parents fainted at the news, but others applauded, remembering the hardcore, no-nonsense, Sisters and Mother Superiors of their own unrepentant younger days, the newspaper said.
"In a way you would think a nun would shy away from saying even D*** and S***, but she's very open with the children, very old fashioned in her messages," said the chairperson of the school commission.
Her sixth-grade son was there when the Sister mouthed off.
"When I asked him to give me a sample of it, he said, 'Oh, Saints Preserve Me, I can't, Mom!'" She said. " Then the more I thought about it, I thought it was great."
A representative of the Archdiocese of Detroit declined to comment Sunday because he was too busy looking up the definitions of all the Sister said.
Cuss words aren't the only things that set the Good Sister off. She's also banned cookies and milk from the lunchtime menu, saying, "I don't believe in molly coddling the future Leaders of America!"
Good for her! ;-D
Read the full story, from the AP, here:
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Hello there!
Except for the last 2 days, the sun has spent a week shining thru the window tempting me to spend all my time working on my, um, wait, I can't get a tan since my fur is in the way, sorry I forgot!
Anyway, the sun returned today but I was just too comfy and warm to move every time the sunbeam did, so stayed put for most of the morning. ;-D
Care to scratch my belly? ;-D
Daddy took a picture of my window signs!
I love those things! Aren't they funny? ;-D
The little one says not to let me out no matter what I tell you. ;-D
Aww, I'm just a harmless little furball, honest! ;-D
Anyway, where was I?
Oh, yeah, on my way over to the Computer to write this story I took time out for a Noontime Nap.
Come on! Doesn't anyone want to scratch my belly? ;-D
Oh, yeah, time to bring out the MOP!
Welcome to Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat!
To steal a line from the wonderful Cat Blogosphere Website:
We cats are taking over the Blogosphere. It's the first step to taking over the world.
The purpose of postings under this title will be to pay visits to my fellows in the Cat Blogosphere, commenting on the various goings on amongst them.
For this first edition I wish to point you in the direction of various websites that provide weekly "Carnivals" where Cats and their Humans can let the world know what's going on in their corner of the world:
1. The Carnival of the Cats, founded by Laurence Simon, is a weekly roundup of cat-related posts on weblogs. Its purpose is to provide a non-political respite from the vehement echo chamber that the Blogopshere spins itself into during the week, demonstrating that even the mightiest and meekest of pundits have a love of cats in common.
He's looking for someone to hand his baby off to after almost 200 editions.
2. The Cat Blogosphere Website is THE place to go for news, weekly Carnivals, heads up about Carnivals and events elsewhere, Cat Chat, Cat Resources and more, including links to submitting to the Carnival of the Cats, and other fun places.
All blogging cats, kittens, kitties, pussycats, and other felines are welcome to become members or email us info. Friends of felines are welcome too!
- We helps out our furriends and ofur critters lots.
- We keeps the world updated bout what’s goin on wif cats. Very impawtant yoo knows!
- We has contests.
- We has parties.
- We chats.
- And we has lotsa fun!
3. Ferdinand founded the Cat Lover's Community, and it is a popular place to check out.
4. Bad KittyCats hosts the Bad Kitty Festival of Chaos:
Are You A Cat? Are you Bad? Or Do You Want To Be Bad?
Then you are in the right place! It's no secret, Kitty Cats are the coolest creature around on this planet. If we dare, we could even say the entire universe. To celebrate the feline rule, we bring you the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos. Send your submission and join in the mayhem!
I love the Theme Song! ;-D
5. Pet Prayer and Praise Blog:
This blog is for any pet prayer requests, praises or remembrances. Each Sunday a new list will be started. If you need a special request added to the list, please leave it in the comments anytime.
6. The Modulator has the Friday Ark, each week, in which Cat Pictures play a prominent role.
However, if other critters are your thing there are lots of links to pictures of them, too! ;-D
Well, that's all for today!
It's time for a late afternoon nap. ;-D
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