Ever feel like all these blogs and forums and websites are too much, oh my?! They probably are, so guess what? Don’t even try to keep up. Read, or listen or watch what you can. You are not obligated to read all of this stuff, and the moment you have that thought, step away from your PC, your Mac, your phone, your iPad, your kid’s DSI…. Go outside and inhale some fresh air. Then come back in and eat something really decadent that is not on your diet. After that, you won’t feel like you’re overdoing the web. You can come back to your system and look up great diet sites that have wonderful tips on how to keep from overeating, which you may never use, but it makes you feel good to read them. See how useful the web can be?
By the way, I had a great piece for yesterday to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday, but I got caught up in reading and watching so much that I never posted it. And posting at 11:55pm didn’t seem it would have the same effect. Maybe next year for that piece. Oh my God! Did I just commit to another year of this?!! Someone slap me.
Oh yeah, I’m putting the Richard Armitage tag on this ’cause he’s an eater like Nigella Lawson. The dude likes food and hasn’t been able to keep that knowledge to himself. Just one more thing to love about him. :D
John Standring savoring a sausage while contemplating Carol’s words:
The banner makes each post into a goal of making you forget it’s there or forcing you to look at it and wonder about yourself or me or both of us. And I’m loving that challenge.
Dropping the cloak has been a thought in the back of my mind and sometimes in the front, but this is so much fun, it’s better not to mess with what’s working. So in the shadows I’ll remain. Why didn’t I do a blog sooner? Seriously, what was the big fear? Never mind that question. I know what it was, and for a time I regretted how slowly I woke up. Life is short and getting shorter. No times for regrets.
This is one of the blogs I love and read religiously. I'm reading this book now. I laughed at the name of it and many of you can guess why. What a great blog title that would be! :D
Do I have mixed emotions about reading free books? I did, but I've bought more books in the last few years when I started following this blog than the ten before. The kindle has prompted me to buy many more hardcopy new books as well where I seldom did that before unless it was a gift to someone. So no worries that I'm not supporting authors.
And if you don't have a kindle, it's possible to download some of these books to a PC or even a smart phone with free apps available to do so. But as with all Amazon transactions, read the fine print. Some books can be downloaded to the Kindle permanently, and some are temporary ala borrowing a book from the library.
Enjoy!
edit: I'm putting the Richard Armitage tag on this 'cause he's a reader. LOL!
Also, Nook has free books too. More on that later -- maybe.
Death by Facebook by Everett Peacocl is free today from the Amazon Kindle store, and has received an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 12 customer reviews. You can pick up your free copy by clicking here or typing in http://amzn.to/yRdlpL into your computer’s web browser.
Category: Horror
Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:
A vacationing soldier in Hawaii…
Earth’s most active volcano, anxious to repeat itself…
Two murders involving love, madness, friendship, hippies, tsunamis, and the great hereafter…
DEATH BY FACEBOOK by Everett Peacock
Be careful what you say online
So many things happen that are in my face but thankfully don’t faze me — much. The day they really do faze me is the day I need to get a life. You thought I didn’t have a life because I run a blog about Richard Armitage? ROFLOL!! Yes, I actually am on the floor, and it’s hell typing from that angle, but see, see what I do for the readers! Umph. Aaah! That’s better. Back in an upright position.
A few things that make me glad I’m not a teen or 20 something, and apologies to all of you who are that age and feel the same:
The Biggest Celebrity Breakups of 2011 — not sure which one on the list makes me yawn more. I’m embarrassed to admit I knew most people on that list although some did elicit, “Huh?” Yes, I realize it’s a 2011 list, but it keeps popping up on mainstream news sites I’m reading. Apparently, places like MSNBC think it’s still newsworthy.
I could go on, but I think you get the point, and some of you may be wondering why I’m even posting this. For fun. Hell, what good are these things if I can’t make fun of them. And yeah, I was dying to use that Kardashian video. :D
You should thank me for not inflicting Justin Bieber on you. Or maybe I’m the only one who feels this way?
A picture to cleanse your palate:
It is a fan blog about Richard Armitage, so I was obligated, but really, isn’t he a breath of fresh air?
I immersed myself in over a thousand Post Secret cards to get ready for my last two pieces. The range of emotions this evoked nearly took off my head. Each card is a story much like the six word story attributed to Hemingway although the Post Secret cards are more powerful for being non-fiction. There was a card every now and then that made me wonder if Gary Larson was at work:
For the uninitiated Post Secret is a blog begun in 2005 by Frank Warren, who gave a platform for people’s secrets. Once a week on Sunday, he posts 20 of the cards he receives. Yesterday the site celebrated a half billion visits, and almost countless blogs commemorated. Our own Funky Blue Dandelion was among them and with a little something more.
I have many more thoughts about the Post Secret dynamic, but I’m not quite sure they would fit on this blog.
As for the connection to Richard Armitage, isn’t he in the business of telling someone’s story? Oh yeah, he should be tagged in this post. :D
Postcard from the 2005 Post Secret archive collection.
I was just reading a story at TheOneRing about an unreported act of kindness. “MrCere”, the author of the piece, was so moved by what he was made privy to on his trip to New Zealand to cover ‘The Hobbit’, that his urge to somehow capture it for posterity seemed barely contained. Mostly the piece was about the effect the revelation of the kindness had on him. It was ineffably sweet, and I was relieved he refrained from giving many particulars. The kindness needs no unveiling in order for it to edify. It’s enough to know that it happened. Besides, kindness always was best done intimately.
I popped onto Wikipedia the other day and noticed Jimmy Wales, founder, is again making a plea for donations to the site. Look at those eyes :D (click to enlarge):
If you know the story of Wikipedia, then you know the request is justified. Oh you don’t know the story? Jimmy will explain:
If you don’t want to watch the video, what you need to know is Wikipedia is held accountable by the public. If someone doesn’t agree with what’s inserted there, they may change it, and it’s amazing how accurate it is when compared with traditional encyclopedia. The other thing you need to know is the site is non-profit with 35 paid employees (or thereabouts; at the time of that video, they only had one paid employee, the programmer), and the rest are volunteers. It’s become common knowledge that Jimmy does not take money from the venture but instead makes a living with his speaking engagements and his writing. Supposedly, his net worth is less than $1 million while the potential of Wikipedia as a for profit site is estimated at $3 billion. I can respect what he’s done and cough up at least $5 and hope you will too.
One more look at Jimmy the guy who passed up $3 Billion:
What does this have to do with Richard Armitage? Well, he’s a smart guy, and I’ll bet he would give Jimmy a fiver.
Video courtesy of Ted Talks, and if you don’t subscribe to Ted, you’re missing out. I may have to write a piece on that too. :D
…to all of you, and to those who are sick or down or who cannot make sense of what this world is all about, the Lord came to us and still does today. My thankfulness for that is beyond words.
Yesterday was a pleasure! If you don’t know why, then I assume you’ve been under a rock for the last 24 hours and don’t realize ‘The Hobbit’ trailer finally came out! See it here.
And for the Frenz household there is another joy, and I’ve got to share it. My son is in his first year away at college and my third child to go to college. Of the three, he is the one SO and I have been most concerned about adapting to academia. He is dyslexic, and reading has been a terrific trial for him. He was nine years old before he learned to read and so naturally was behind. But more than that, he had already begun to think of himself as ‘the dumb one at school.’ Getting help for his dyslexia has been much easier than helping him to overcome this attitude about his abilities. It took years before he stopped saying he was dumb. Thankfully, in his last few years in K-12, he began to understand he had a great ability in math. He also became a wicked chess player and has a diabolical way around a Rubik’s cube. I think his record for the cube is around 20 seconds. He does it at parties to entertain and has even done it with his eyes closed a couple of times but not at 20 seconds! When I’ve said, “And you think everyone can do that?” his response, “Oh, it’s nothing, Mom, it’s just a trick.” Whatever. I know the cube or a chess board or anything to do with logic or a puzzle is nothing to him. He gets it and gets it big time.
But all that wonderful logic went out the window when confronted with the possibility of going off to college. He was terrified. Yet there was no problem dealing with the recruiters for his athletic scholarship. That was another game to him. However, having to go to class and having to possibly read 50-100 pages of material a day and then write something about it?!! Kill me now! was his thinking. Well, he ended his first semester and will receive a 4.0 or something just shy of it. He is pumped as you can imagine, and obviously, so are we. He never believed he could pull that off, and he kept telling us, “Don’t expect me to do as well as the girls. Please don’t expect that!” We would have been happy with his grades as long as we knew he was trying and told him, “Just let yourself learn how to do school.” He did that, but his competitive nature made him go the distance to make those grades.
Mostly, it is the culmination of years of him coming to an understanding that he is capable. Along the way I learned not to be depressed about his struggles. and thankfully, I’ve realized they have made him a better person. He is very compassionate toward others who have difficulties and often finds himself in situations where others need help and now he believes he can help!
I asked him how he would rate his first semester of school on a scale of 1 to 10. He said it was a 10, and I took exception to that, so he said, “Okay, it was a nine and a half since my classes weren’t challenging enough.”
note: A big thank you to bccmee for editing my son’s photo which will go on the Wall of Fame at the high school where he ran track and won two state titles and was All State several times. The photo is beautifully done, and my son also says a hearty thank you for that!
edit: A little clip of the Rubik’s obsession. I noticed his time is slipping a bit. He’s back up to 40+ seconds:
If he did this as he normally does, he let someone else scramble the cube.
Are you a voter in the U.S.? Please watch this video:
We are all in jeopardy of a dangerous precedent being set with this type of government control, and it doesn’t even do what’s intended. So what control will they take next to try to ensure that it does? And the only ones who really are affected are the honest people. Haven’t we lost enough already in the interest of preserving order? If you still do not understand what kind of power will be ceded to our government, then we need to talk.
If you are already convinced this is a dangerous bill, but you don’t know what to do about it, call or send an email to your representatives, and you can also sign a petition. I signed this one.
Here’s a little more about the urgency of the situation:
Call Congress Today And Let Them Know (Again) That You Are Against SOPA from the they-don’t-seem-to-be-getting-the-message dept
Rep. Lamar Smith is getting ready to cement his legacy as passing the first bill to create a permanent “black list” of censored websites in the US… and most of Congress still doesn’t understand that the American public is vehemently coming out against this bill. It’s very, very likely that Smith will get the Judiciary Committee to approve the bill tomorrow, at which point it could go to a full vote on the floor at any time. Yes, a bunch of the members of the Judiciary Committee plan to vote to censor the internet tomorrow, and they still don’t believe the public cares about this.
RAFrenzy 