There’s been great techy news recently! A major source of spam has been shut down. That’s good. So at least for a few weeks there should be less spam in your inbox. That is, until folks figure out a way to work around it.
In the meantime there appears to be a newer threat and bloggers should beware. If you’ve commented on a few blogs you’ve noticed that some sites require word verification. It’s pretty simple, if you’re a person you read the letters and type them in. If you’re not a person you’re foiled!
Or are you?
Those word verification things are called CAPTCHAs and they work pretty well. Despite all the progress with social networking being more popular than porn, there’s still a large community of folks out there that use the internet for debasing purposes. Someone had an idea: use people’s lesser natures to get through CAPTCHAs.
A virtual stripper promises to remove clothing if people write the letters in properly. Eventually they figure out all the codes. It seems they’ve been winning.
How can we tell? Chrissy’s recent blog post has been spammed. It went from having like 15-25 people a day to having like 100+. Yeah, somebody’s noticed.
Why all the attention to Chrissy’s blog post? Well it’s hosted by blogspot, which is really blogger, which is owned by google. Google let’s people have their blogs for free because it gives them more advertising space, and a quick source for news. They scan the blogs from the instant they’re published, and they’re immediately added to the database.
How to check: This is a fun game. When you’re writing your next blog post pick a phrase from it that you think is unique. For example in Chrissy’s blog I’d use the sentence I have pulled out the camera a bit more and started to play more with it on manual.
Don’t publish the blog yet
Copy the selected sentence
Open another window/tab
Paste the sentence into the search bar with“at each end of it.
Select search
It should come back withno results
Now publish the blog
Hit the ‘back button’ on the google search
Then click search again
Did google find it this time? Check again in a couple of minutes if it didn’t. Within ten minutes every google search out there can find your blog.
So if you were going to crack word verifications where would you go? That’s right: Blogger. I don’t think this will be the last time a blog I know gets spammed.
Google’s got to get better on the CAPTCHAs and there’s only one other choice to stop the spam. The comments need to be approved. To do this in blogger go to your blog, sign in, visit the “Settings” page and then “Comments.” You’ll want to find the section labeled “ Comment moderation” and click on the “Always” button. Make sure you click “Save” at the bottom.
In addition to being spammed, Chrissy and I also discovered that we’d been scammed this week. A random charge on our credit card for $0.11 turned out to be the testing charge for a series of other scams.
I’d recommend that everyone check their cards for any random charges. If something’s out of place—don’t let it sit. Get your credit card company’s “fraud squad” to fix it ASAP.
The card was hosted by USAA. We’ve never been disappointed with their service. They’ve responded quickly, and things are going as good as they can get.
Bad guys exist. Luckily there’s enough real-life superheros to stop them.
The opening scene of th 1993 film Benny & Joon shows Johnny Depp’s character reading a book: The Look of Buster Keaton. Outside of that 15 year old reference not much of the mainstream media has given any attention to the once-famous actor. Reference still exist among film critics who understand the historical significance that Keaton plays. Even a recent article about the latest James Bond movie mentions Buster Keaton in a positive light.
Although Chalie Chapman’s “Tramp” is a much more identifyable character from the silent film era Keaton and Chapman were certainly considered equals at the time, as well as today. Their comedic timing was shear genius. With a little bit of background this silent film easily becomes a knee slapper. So let’s give you some background.
Many of the silent film directors were Civil War buffs. Keaton was no exception. “The General” takes place during the civil war. It begins with Keaton trying to enlist into the army to win over his love, a typical southern bell. He’s considered unfit for enlistment His regular job is to drive a train named “The General.” He becomes hearbroken. Then through a series of unfortunate circumstances his train and girl are captured by the hostile notherners. He follows them in a terrific chase scene, saves the girl, and warns the southern army of an impending attack.
There’s some great footage during the film. You get to see historically restored locomotive crash into a river–where it remained until salvaged as scrap metal for WWWII. More than 500 extras from the Oregon national guard were used as the union soldiers. When Johnnie (Keaton’s Character) is saving the girl he puts her into a potato sack. The concept of stunt doubles didn’t exist in the silent film era, despite what Singing in the Rain would have you believe. The actress is actually in the potato sack getting tossed around, banged into things, and having things thrown on her.
What a brave era to be an actress!
Watch for Keaton’s timing. His animation may look a bit choppy because of the age of the film, but you’ll see him as agile as any character Jim Carrey has played. Even Alan Alda attributes many of his acting lessons to emulating Keaton’s style. It’s no wonder that when Benny & Joon was released with the tagline “A Romance on the Brink of Reality” it was Keaton who Depp looked to for emulation.
This will not die out of the history of American film anytime soon. It seems to have passed it’s days when it was discussed over the dinner table. It’s a shame really. Something of this calibar should warrant a resurrection. It’s brilliant. It’s time to get the popcorn out and watch a good piece of film.
You can watch it below, or you can download a hi-res version of it here: 700mb, 210mb, 173mb, 75mb.
Yes, I like many little boys, grew up wanting to be a firefighter. To accommodate this, someone in hollywood made a show just for me, at the time when I was most prone in life to enjoy it. I mean really the writing was just at my level. With lead character names like “Gage” and “Desoto” this show was primed to be one of my favourite growing up.
You could imagine my joy when I noticed that hulu.com has begun to host episodes of Emergency! Yahoo! Now I can pass it on to another generation. Daniel and I have already sat down to a couple of episodes. I’m happy to embed a couple of them below for your enjoyment. Pay particular attention to the vintageness of the automobiles, haircuts, and discussion on highly volatile subjects–like teenage immorality. Certainly this show was made in a different era, though it seems odd it was made in my lifetime!
There’s a good fan site also available for anyone who’s interested. [Click Here].
Around this time of year people start putting up their Christmas lights. A few weeks ago they were putting up their Halloween decorations. In America, we have certain social expectations of our neighbours. For example, if someone doesn’t pass out candy on Halloween they are generally shunned. With Christmas lights it’s a little bit different. You don’t get shunned for not putting them up. I think there’s some economic reasons for this. Instead you’re usually praised by the neighbourhood for putting them on display.
Everyone who blogs participates in a social network, an online neighbourhood. Unfortunately for this society we don’t have a Moses to deliver 10 commandments from on high. There are those that have tried to construct a “10 Commandments of Blogging.” The generally include things like telling the truth, don’t copy someone elses entire post, don’t post obtrusive advertising, and don’t use technical jargon [ref].
In general these are good pieces of advice, but I would hardly call them commandments. I find many solutions to online questions through forums and other people’s blogs. If they didn’t use the jargon I wouldn’t be able to get answers. As far as obtrusive advertising goes, people are smart enough to avoid crap. Telling the truth is over rated. I’ve got a rough draft of a post for this blog called the “Island of Malarky” about intentionally making up ridiculous lies so people can tell you’re lying.
No, I don’t think there’s an easy solution to blogging rules, and most of the commandment sites avoid sharing a key component: “Thy blog shall look goodeth!”
At least one picture per post: It just makes the blog look better. On top of that here’s some other tips of things to do and avoid doing with your picture:
Don’t make it a link to someone else’s blog. Take the time to download and re-upload. Sometimes those files will change on the original site and this would cost you cool appearance posts.
Tweak the photo a bit before uploading. On the right here you’ll see a photo that was tweaked using google’s picasa. I’d recommend picasa because it’s free and allows for some really simple editing. It’s also a great way to find the photos on your machine. [download]
What’s the best tweak for appearances? It’s a feature called a “drop shadow.” This is a really nice feature for blending and distinguishing your photos from your background. Unfortunately Picasa doesn’t have this feature built into it yet. There are other programs which do, but I’m not comfortable recommending any particular one. Usually if it’s got the ‘drop shadow’ feature it’s a much more complicated program. If you’re looking for it in your photo editing software you’ll probably find it among the available ‘filters.’
Copyrights apply. This is a big one. Don’t steal someone else’s work–if they’re still alive. Remember how earlier I was talking about online archives? Well, they’re great photo repositories. The library of congress has a great deal of photos. Searching the site using their pre-google designed search tools is obnoxious. So, use google to do it. Let’s say you were looking for a picture of “mormons.” Type mormon site:loc.gov into google’s the search box. It’ll pull up all the results at the Library of Congress for the word “mormon.” This isn’t what we want, we just want the pictures. So at the top click on “Images.” This will apply your search to all the image files at the Libbrary of Congress. Unless otherwise stated, these images are public domain. You can print and re-print them as you see fit. Wanna cheat? Click here and change the world “mormon” to whatever it is you’re looking for.
Fancy Backgrounds: You’ve seen them. They look cool. Just beware this is a two edge sword.
Fancy backgrounds seem to be popping up all over the place. You can download them from several websites. Pyzam, cutestblogontheblock, Mashable, here,here and here. There’s really too many to list. What you’re doing when you use one of these backgrounds is increasing the advertising revenue of the site that you downloaded it from. Use a cutestblogontheblock background and in the upper right hand corner you’ll see a link to cutestblogontheblock’s website. Why? Google religiously searches the blogs it hosts on blogspot & blogger. As soon as your post is published the search engines know it’s there. Links from your blog increase the ratings of other sites. The more sites that use cutestblogontheblock the more likely people are to click on it after searching google. It’s like buying a shirt from Old Navy that says “Old Navy” on it. Why are there so many sites that gives these away for free? On their homepage they have advertising. The more people they can get to their homepage, the more they can make ends meet.
So far this post assumes that you want to use a fancy background. There are some out there who don’t understand why you should change. It says something about your blog if you’re using the original background. It looks like it’s your first week blogging. Most folks that don’t like to change things are afraid they’ll “break” their blog. OK it’s possible to ‘mess things up’ a bit, but you have to actually work pretty hard to delete your posts. Go ahead and experiment. Change things up. Most blogging software has a ‘backup’ feature. Backup your stuff before you play, then have fun playing!
Busy-busy backgrounds aren’t always the best. Remember, your blog is primarily text. Text gets difficult to read if there’s too much going on in the background. This pyzam background for myspace is a good example. It makes it rather difficult to read the navigation text that occurs on the page. If you don’t want people to read you post, get a busy background. If you’ve written something you want people to read, then pick something to accomodate the older eyes that may be reading.
A couple more random tips
Turn the music off: Ok it’s cool that you found a thing that plays some of the songs that are a part of your life’s soundtrack. Really, that’s neat. It’s just a pet peeve of mine, but I don’t want to automatically hear your soundtrack when I’m reading your blog. I might be surfing at work or in a library where audio is frowned upon. I used to find people I didn’t like and post a comment on their myspace pages. In the code of the page I’d include a link to a song–a rather obnoxious song–that would overlap any of their own music. It’s like digitally TPing someone’s house.
Be Yourself: When I look at your blog I should see you. Don’t be someone else. It’s rather hard to maintain an alter ego. There’s nothing wrong with exploring an online personality that is an extension of who you are. Just remember not to create a new one while you’re exploring.
Keep posting: Make a commitment to post regularly. If you’re thinking that nothing happened start your first sentence as “Nothing happened today” and publish it. Odds are before you get to the “.” you’ll realize that something did happen, and someone out there wouldn’t mind reading about it.
Google Smoogle: Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. We all explore the internet and often have some great finds. Google’s good, but they don’t always sort things in the same priorites. It’s ok to make blogs that just share your finds. Like this mid century public service video. It’s a classic!!!
So if you’re one of those neighbours that doesn’t put up the Christmas lights as a sign of protesting the holiday season, I’m ok with that. You probably don’t hand out candy on Halloween either. If you’re in the habit of ignoring social rules, then you probably quit reading this blog a while ago, and aren’t going to even listen to a single one of my suggestions. If you have read this far, take what I’ve written a bit farther and give it a whirl. Leave a comment to let me know how it goes.
If you can’t don’t worry. You’re not required to know the answer to any of these things to keep your blog. There’s not a whole lot of technical discrimination online these days. Nothing technical is genetic. Everyone has to start at zero when it comes to producing cool looking content online.
Tonight I’d like to talk about ad-ing to your blog. You’ve surfed around and seen other blogs have ads. I’m sure you’ve wondered if it’s worth the trouble to have them. Can you really make money on advertising? How hard is it to set up? If you go to the sites that want you to host advertising life gets a bit confusing.
Let me see if my formula helps you decide if this is a solution. My formula involves setting up two different ad accounts to compete for the best advertising on your site. Let’s start first with google Adsense. Most bloggers I’ve come across use blogger.com. This means they already have a google account. They just need to activate their adsense account. It takes a few minutes, they’ve got good screens to talk you through the process and when you’re done you should have some sort of code that will turn into an ad on you page. In blogger you can add this pretty easily:
Layout–>Page Elements–>Add a Gadget–>(Scroll Down)Adsense–> “+”
Sign in and select your ad
Really it’s that simple. When you look at your adsense reports you’ll be able to see how many times people saw your blog & ad. It’ll be in the “page views” column. If you’re a long-term blogger and haven’t done this yet, you might be suprised how many people are coming to visit your blog.
If you’re doing this in WordPress you’ll want to install the AdSense Manager plugin. Follow the instructions on the plugin and you’ll be in business in no time. Getting really creative? Try this one. Google has a competitor for advertising. It’s a company called AdBrite. Their business model involves a bit of bidding. If you’d get paid more from google, it shows a google ad. If you’d get paid more from AdBrite, it’ll show an AdBrite advertisement.
It’s pretty easy to set up as well. Visit AdBrite and sign up for an account. Create your ad unit. When you’re at the “Pricing Options” tab you’ll be able to input the code from adsense that you generated earlier. This maximizes you’re chances of making some cash. Now I know what you’re thinking: Can I really make some money doing this? The answer isn’t a simple yes or no. There’s whole college classes dedicated to making advertising more effective. I just don’t have the time to cover all the ins and outs here. I’m already aware that my posts are generally “too long.” We’ve all heard the concept that “Time=Money.” That being true, there’s the idea that anything you invest your time in, should have some financial gain. Don’t take me too literally on this philosophy. Family is waaaaay better than money.
You can make some money on this. Google will send you a check every $100 increments, and that may take a year or more depending on your site traffic. It’s a nice check when it does show up. I wouldn’t try to pay the bills from what you’d make, but it does make for some good splurge money. Some blogs I read are probably considerably more popular than mine.
I could imagine that if Emily posted some on her blog “Muskrat Love” she’d probably have a bit of cash flowing faster than this site. With a master’s English her blog is certainly more polished prose than what you see here. Her humor, whit, and timing match her skills in writing. It’s definately one worth adding to your blog list.
I know the word’s not very exiting. It conjures up ideas of dusty places and smelly old men, women who’d be tried for witchcraft in other centuries and general boredom. There’s no glossing over it. We’ve got a generally bad impression of the word “archive.” Let’s see if we can’t change that.
Remember in Indiana Jones there was that room where the ark was locked up? Who didn’t think of all the treasures that were locked up in that room? I mean really, if they were going to lock up the Ark of the Covenant then what else did they have in those crates?
I like to think of archives like that warehouse. Sure there’s some dust, but there’s also great treasures. Dad stumbled across two great treasures this week. First was the blog entry from yesterday where he discovered the great books that are available online for free. Then there was a more personal discovery. In an email Dad discovered an old news reel that showed the West Point graduation class of 1942. That was the year that his dad, my grandpa, graduated from the United States Military Academy.
Dad has asked if there’s a way that I’d be able to download the file. Well, dad the answer is YES! The reason why is because the link he’d found was an to archives.gov, one of the many archives available and growing online. I’d like to submit a bit of a review of three of my favorite sites that I frequent:
Archive.org :: This is one of the first and great online archives. I’ve been particularly drawn to the older cartoons and TV shows. A while back I downloaded the feature length Gulliver’s Travels and burned it onto DVD. It’s now rotated in with the rest of our DVDs the kids watch.
Archives.gov :: Need a PDF version of the Declaration of Independence? This is the place to get one. How about the 7.2 million dollar check to purchase Alaska? Or Edison’s patent on the light bulb. This is also the same branch of government responsible for the Presidential Libraries. Now that many of them are online school kids should have a much easier time doing research. You can listen to FDR’s great speeches, or review some of the campaigning novelties of the Kennedy campaign.
Loc.gov :: The official website of the Library of Congress this is by far the oldest online archive I’ve visited. Here you can read Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington, in their own handwriting.
Now dad, here’s the good news. The video you were exited about, and asking about… I did it. Because it was located at Archives.gov I was able to download it. Click the title below to download the file.
Bloggers seem to enjoy a good book more than most others. I’ve got several I haven’t told you about, and will have to save that for another post. What I would like to tell you about is FREE BOOKS!
There’s a movement online to make the world’s knowledge available to everyone. One project in particular is called “Project Gutenberg.” Here you’ll find classics that have helped shape humanity. Pardon me while I name a few:
Well, you can take a second at their list of top 100. It’s pretty neat to see what folks are reading for free. I downloaded a copy of “A Thousand and One Arabian Nights” and have been enjoying the intricate weaving of stories within its pages.
There’s a downside to getting your books online–you’ll probably want to print them. With some clever work you can trick your printer into printing two pages per sheet (select job options) & doing the print job double sided (slightly more advanced). When you’re done you’ve got a good book in your hands.
All of this is pretty ‘normal’ these days, but I’d like to give it some historical perspective. Chrissy and I were touring a castle in Germany and asked how much the castle was worth. The tour guide asked what was meant by the question. “How much did it cost to build?” the man asked again. The tourguide explained that there was no cost. The king owned the people, their resources, and their labor. It didn’t cost him a thing to have a castle built.
The man pressured again, about the value of the splendid building. Finally the tour guide conceded the answer. The value wasn’t in the building but in the books that were contained in its library. The library was the only building in the large castle that had heat.
A kingdom’s value is in it’s knowledge. The largest library in the world is located in our nation’s capital, Washington D.C.. It’s only in the past few hundred years that we’ve measured wealth in terms of gold, or economic output. There is a story I love in “Lost History” a book about the historical contribution of the Muslim nations. A Muslim king went to war with a neighboring kingdom. Upon obtaining his victory he didn’t ask for booty (as was expected), but rather asked the conquered king for a copy of a particular book.
Knowledge has less boundaries in this generation. Thanks to the internet that knowledge is now being shared with the world. We’re having a global awakening! The philosophy of our founding fathers is being realized. Knowledge can operate as an equalizer across societies. What a great day to be alive.
Now, bookworms who don’t have time to read–I’ve got a treat for you as well. There’s sites out there who offer free audiobooks. There’s some pretty good titles involved. Many of the same classics listed above are available. If you work through Archive.org it gives you quite a few audiobook options. I would recommend the following link to Librivox’s library. There’s more than 2,000 books to choose from.
Want some good bed time stories? I’d recommend A Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Maybe you’re a Charles Dickens fan. The site has 7 of his books available here. Or maybe you’ve been having so much fun watching LOST that you’d like to listen to books that involve shipwrecks. Try this page here.
Well, for those of you who love books, I hope this pointed out a couple of new places for you to peruse. Now all you need to do is muster up some courage, grab a snack and sit down to some good ideas. Literary adventurers, it’s time to go exploring.
A while back I was a college student studying speeches and various forms of oration and persuasion. The education has left a permanent mark on my ability to digest the things to which I’m exposed. During an election year there is an increased amount of persuasive material being produced. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
About spring semester last year someone showed a youtube video of Barack giving a speech interlaced as part of a song. It focused on one of his most famous speeches, and the motto of his campaigning: YES WE CAN.
I listened to it over and over again. Chrissy got sick of listening. I was amazed. The oratory was terrific. The structure was a beautifully modernized Aristotelian prose. Each time I heard it, I heard something new. There’s still more to discover in the song, and worth taking a listen.
It’s not my place to speak ill of someone who actually wants the job of being President. We’ve got the worst economic outlook in years, we’re at war, and if VP-Elect Joe Biden is right, this President will be tested in the first few months of his Presidency. Things look bleak. Some people may look at this as a challenge. It’s nearly beyond challenge. It seems impossible. I’ve seen what Chrissy’s going through balancing her life. She’s seen me with mine. The workload of the President and the stress upon the family is something I don’t wish upon my worst enemy.
While in Iraq on my second deployment the death toll for those in uniform extended beyond 3,000. Bills were being discussed to pull us out of Iraq on a timetable, and our partisan politics made it look like our representatives were overpaid lemmings. I stayed a few minutes after my food was finished, watched TV and drew some conclusions.
President Bush has made known that he is a religiously minded individual. With that in mind, he has the sole responsibility of the 3,000+ American deaths on his conscience. I thought of whether or not my conscience would handle the load. I concluded that I wouldn’t know until I’m tested. I also decided that if I was tested in any degree I couldn’t do it alone.
I do not know how that man sleeps at night.
It wasn’t the time then, and it’s not the time now, to withdraw our support for a President, or future president. They may not always do the right thing by everyone, but they may have to do the right thing by their conscience.
With that understanding there is a different between support and silence. They are NOT the same thing. Although the maxim of most legal systems is “Silence is Consent.” Silence may also be unproductive. I appreciated Kerry’s encouraging the debate in congress. War is so terrible a thing that the instance war is considered as a solution, the greatest minds on the planet should be dedicated to deciding its termination.
Things are bad. The media has the power to make them better. JFK encouraged Americans to do more for their country. I would love to see two minutes dedicated to people across the country who are taking steps to make things better. My computer project (Reprise) has a lot of potential. It has a lot of potential nationally. It would be great if the word got out via a national outlet. Imagine all the computer geeks donating a few hours a week and making a difference in the next generation.
It’s really not that good of an idea, but if I can come up with this low cost educational program what are the smart people thinking up? Give them the air time. Someone needs to show Americans gaps that they can fill. Telling us to do more in the community is great. Telling us “Yes We Can” is a noble message. Now it’s time for “Yes We Can” to turn into action. There was a great deal of demographics mobilized during the election. Now let’s get them mobilized to helping our neighbors.
I hope I’m doing enough. I told my mother yesterday that I wished I wasn’t in debt. If I had the means I would be able to do more. I’m reminded at this time in our nation how Grandma Hill grew up in the household of a seminary teacher. They didn’t have much during the depression, but they had more than others.
I watch the news. It tells me there’s problems in the world. I ask myself, “is there anything I can do?” My answer is “Yes I can.” I just hope the rest of America translates from the plural of “Yes We Can” to “Yes I Can.” We often fail to realize that the solution to our problems often starts with ourselves.
The book of Job has the answer to a lot of problems. After all, Job had a lot of problems. What changed Job’s luck? Job 42:10: The Lord turned the captivity of Job when he started praying for his friends.
The television shows I watched as a kid focused a lot on promoting a ‘generation gap’ agenda. The Brady Bunch, the Partridge Family, Leave it to Beaver, and others illustrated that a child’s world is different than their parents. It’s a theme that’s probably been a part of the human experience since the beginning of the human experience.
The pace of our technological development is increasing so fast that it’s bound to get worse between me and the kids. At the moment I’m grateful that I actually know more about computers than they do. We’ll see when that changes. I know from our experience with the youth that I’m waaaay behind on my ‘texting’ (SMS messaging) skills.
I’ve noticed that there’s several things my children will never have to hear in their generation. I’ll update this list as needed, maybe you can help me think of a few.
Recently Antiquated Items:
You’re wasting film–Digital cameras have made this statement a myth
That’s Long Distance–Cell phones charge us minutes, and Skype has a monthly flat rate. There’s no such thing as ‘long distance.’
I have to rewind it first–DVD/MP3 players have made rewinding something you do when you want to repeat a section for your enjoyment.
What time is that show on?–On demand television, DVRs, TiVo, and Internet TV have given new freedom to watching television. You’re no longer confined to watching the TV at the times the TV wants. Now you have a choice. The TV works for you, not against you.
Getting Lost–It’s still possible, but GPSs Google Maps, Satellite images, and a little bit of planning do a lot to help reduce the chances of getting lost.
Plug the remote in–growing up we had ‘plug in’ remotes for our VCRs
TV Repair shops–It’s like $50 more to buy a new set than replace the old one. So I don’t know anyone that gets their TVs fixed anymore.
Radio Shack–They used to sell unique gadgets for technology geeks. Now their corporate driven inventories are actually slightly antiquated items. There’s usually always better stuff online and better quality elsewhere.
There’s something of respect in all of this that I’ll have to remember as the kids enter teenagedom. Their experts at their experience of growing up. With their unique talents, skills, and exposure there’s no one else that’s better at knowing ‘them’ than ‘themselves.’
You’ll see the same sort of thing happen on the news. When a specific issue comes up they’ll call in an expert. Around Christmas time they dig up historians that are “Santa Claus” experts. When 9/11 happened there wasn’t enough ‘terrorist’ experts to go around all the media outlets and reporting on the subject was rather poor. I’ve always dreamed of getting a phrenology degree so that if there’s ever a need to interview a phrenology expert I’d be the guy they call.
When it comes down to it I’m not going to be an expert at living Eliza’s life. I hope that she realizes that my experience living my life can help her live hers.
Read the First Comment 
Those word verification things are called CAPTCHAs and they work pretty well. Despite all the progress with social networking being more popular than porn, there’s still a large community of folks out there that use the internet for debasing purposes. Someone had an idea: use people’s lesser natures to get through CAPTCHAs.
In addition to being spammed, Chrissy and I also discovered that we’d been scammed this week. A random charge on our credit card for $0.11 turned out to be the testing charge for a series of other scams.
The opening scene of th 1993 film 
t film easily becomes a knee slapper. So let’s give you some background.
Yes, I like many little boys, grew up wanting to be a firefighter. To accommodate this, someone in hollywood made a show just for me, at the time when I was most prone in life to enjoy it. I mean really the writing was just at my level. With lead character names like “
There are other programs which do, but I’m not comfortable recommending any particular one. Usually if it’s got the ‘drop shadow’ feature it’s a much more complicated program. If you’re looking for it in your photo editing software you’ll probably find it among the available ‘filters.’
