Blogging in History, sort of

In the QuotesBlog Referrer Log, I found that someone had visited from the Creative Generalist blog. There is a post from Sunday, July 21, 2002 that refers to QuotesBlog this way:

Simple Sunday link: QuotesBlog The name says it all.

Library Blogging

Greetings from the Northtown-Shiloh branch of the Dayton Metro Library. I'm going to take our home computer to be serviced. I hope that they can get the computer to at least the state it was when we first bought it in December 1999.

Wow. December 1999. That's a lot of software updates ago. Once we get the computer home and get the Internet software loaded again, I'll be spending some time downloading the updates.

I can't think of much left to say in this particular post right now, so I guess I'll just stop.

A Blogging Experiment

I received an email from a Scott Nowson, who is doing PhD work in the UK. His thesis work is related to blogging, and he contacted me to participate in his experiment. Here are some links you may be interested in checking out:

• Scott Nowson
• Scott Nowson's Blogging Experiment

Be sure to let him know that you went there via this blog when you stop by! (BTW, I don't get anything personally from it; it's just something he'd like to know.)

The Official Iowan's New Home!

Mark C. Morris has moved his blog home to TypePad. Check out his new digs here:

http://exclamationmark.typepad.com/blog/

Look for the link to his blog to be updated in the blogrolls sometime in the future.

Clever Signs

On a Septic Tank ! Truck in Oregon:
Yesterday's Meals on Wheels
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On a Septic Tank Truck sign:
"We're #1 in the #2 business."
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Sign over a Gynecologist's Office:
"Dr. Jones, at your cervix."
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At a Proctologist's door
"To expedite your visit please back in."
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On a Plumber's truck:
"Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.."
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On a Plastic Surgeon's Office door:
"Hello. Can we pick your nose?"
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At a Towing company:
"We don't charge an arm and a leg. We want tows."
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On an Electrician's truck:
"Let us remove your shorts."
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In a Nonsmoking Area:
"If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action."
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On a door to a Maternity Ward:
"Push. Push. Push."
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At an Optometrist's Office
"If you don't see what you're looking for, you've come to the right place."
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In a Podiatrist's office:
"Time wounds all heels."
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On a Fence:
"Salesmen welcome! Dog food is expensive."
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At a Car Dealership:
"The best way to get back on your feet - miss a car payment."
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Outside a Muffler Shop:
"No appointment necessary. We hear you coming."
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In a Veterinarian's waiting room:
"Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!"
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At the Electric Company:
"We would be delighted if you send in your payment. However, if you don't, you will be."
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In a Restaurant window:
"Don't stand there and be hungry, Come on in and get fed up."
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In the front yard of a Funeral Home:
"Drive carefully. We'll wait."
********* *****************
And don't forget the sign at a Chicago Radiator Shop:
"Best place in town to take a leak."

Forwarded by Mom from Karen

Darwin Awards

In case you have been waiting breathlessly for this year's Darwin Awards, here they are. The awards this year are, once again, truly classic.

These awards are given each year to bestow upon (the remains of) that individual, who through single-minded self-sacrifice, has done the most to remove undesirable elements from the human gene pool. Just think... until these events, these same people were walking the streets like normal people.

5th RUNNER-UP

Goes to a San Anselmo, California man who died when he hit a lift tower at the Mammoth Mountain ski area while riding down the slope on a foam pad. The 22-year old David Hubal was pronounced dead at Central Mammoth Hospital. The accident occurred about 3 a.m., the Mono County Sheriff's department said. Hubal and his friends apparently had hiked up a ski run called Stump alley and undid some yellow foam protectors from lift towers, said Lt. Mike Donnelly of the Mammoth Lakes Police Department. The pads are used to protect skiers who might hit towers. The group apparently used the pads to slide down the ski slope and Hubal crashed into a tower. It has since been investigated and determined the tower he hit was the one with its pad removed.

4th RUNNER-UP

Goes to Robert Puelo, 32, was apparently being disorderly in a St. Louis market. When the clerk threatened to call the police, Puelo grabbed a hot dog, shoved it into his mouth and walked out without paying. Police found him unconscious in front of the store. Paramedics removed the six-inch wiener from his throat where it had choked him to death.

3rd RUNNER-UP

Goes to poacher Marino Malerba of Spain, who shot a stag standing above him on an overhanging rock and was killed instantly when it fell on him.

2nd RUNNER-UP

"Man loses face at party." A man at a West Virginia party (probably related to the winner last year, a man in Arkansas who used the .22 bullet to replace the fuse in his pickup truck) popped a blasting cap into his mouth and bit down, triggering an explosion that blew off hi lips, teeth, and tongue. Jerry Stromyer, 24, of Kincaid, bit the blasting cap as a prank during the party late Tuesday night, said Cpl. M.D. Payne. "Another man had it in an aquarium hooked to a battery and was trying to explode it." "It wouldn't go off and this guy said I'll show you how to set it off." He put it into his mouth, bit down and it blew all his teeth out and his lips and tongue off, Payne said. Stromyer was listed in guarded condition Wednesday with extensive facial injuries, according to a spokesperson at Charleston Area Medical Division. "I just can't imagine anyone doing something like that," Payne said.

1st RUNNER-UP

Doctors at Portland University Hospital said an Oregonman shot through the skull by a hunting arrow is lucky to be alive and will be released soon from the hospital. Tony Roberts, 25, lost his right eye last weekend during an initiation into a men's rafting club, Mountain Men Anonymous (probably known now as Stupid Mountain Men Anonymous) in Grants Pass, Oregon. A friend tried to shoot a beer can off his head, but the arrow entered Robert's right eye. Doctors said that had the arrow gone 1 millimeter to the left, a major blood vessel would have been cut and Roberts would have died instantly. Neurosurgeon Doctor Johnny Delashaw at the University Hospital in Portland said the arrow went through 8 to 10 inches of brain with the tip protruding at the rear of his skull, yet somehow managed to miss all major blood vessels. Delashaw also said that had Roberts tried to pull the arrow out on his own he surely would have killed himself.

Roberts admitted afterwards that he and his friends had been drinking that afternoon. Said Roberts, I feel so dumb about this." No charges have been filed, but the Josephine County district attorney's office said the initiation stunt is under investigation.

Now, THIS YEAR'S WINNER

(The late) John Pernicky and his friend, (the late) Sal Hawkins, of the great state of Washington, decided to attend a local Metallica concert at the George Washington amphitheater. Having no tickets (but having had 18 beers between them), they thought it would be easy to "hop" over the nine foot fence and sneak into the show.

They pulled their pickup truck over to the fence and the plan was for Mr. Pernicky, who was 100 pounds heavier than Mr. Hawkins) to hop the fence and then assist his friend over. Unfortunate for (the late) Mr. Pernicky, there was a 30-foot drop on the other side of the fence. Having heaved himself over, he found himself crashing through a tree. His fall was abruptly halted (and broken, along with his arm) by a large branch that snagged him by his shorts. Dangling from the tree with a broken arm, he looked down and saw some bushes below him. Possibly figuring the bushes would break his fall, he removed his pocket knife and proceeded to cut away his shorts to free himself from the tree.

Finally free, Mr. Pernicky crashed into holly bushes. The sharp leaves scratched his ENTIRE body and now, without the protection of his shorts, a holly branch penetrated his rectum. To make matters worse, on landing his pocket knife penetrated his thigh.

Hawkins, seeing his friend in considerable pain and agony, threw him a rope and tried to pull him to safety by tying the rope to the pickup truck and slowly driving away. However, in his drunken haste/state, he put the truck into reverse and crashed through the fence landing on his friend and killing him. Police arrived to find the crashed pickup with its driver thrown 100 feet from the truck and dead at the scene from massive internal injuries.

Upon moving the truck, they found John under it half-naked, scratches on his body, a holly stick in his rectum, a knife in his thigh, and his shorts dangling from a tree branch 25 feet in the air.

Congratulations gentlemen, you win...

Accuracy of the information contained within this post is unknown, but the stories are, in a way, entertaining anyhow. - DAJ

Where Have I Been?

Last Wednesday, August 6th, the hard drive on our home computer crashed. Since then, I've been working on backing up what we can salvage before we replace the hard drive. Also, I've learned that, unless I can shrink my hands and tools, I am not able to replace the hard drive myself. Even though I tried.

I'm learning a lesson from the school of hard-knocks about backing up. Fortunately, some stuff has already been backed up, either online or onto discs or diskettes.

I'm at the library branch close to home right now, checking email as I blog. Fortunately, most of it is spam that I can bulk delete. But there is a lot of it!

I've also been working a little at my new job and catching up on some reading.

What have you been up to? Oh yeah, I can read your blog to find out, huh? :)

Who's 'So Vain'?

Carly Simon is about to divulge the subject of her 1972 song, "You're So Vain." Unfortunately, only one man will know, and he doesn't appear willing to share the secret. Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC sports and NBC Olympics, won the information in a recent charity auction to benefit Martha's Vineyard Community Services, which provides child care, counseling, substance abuse treatment services and visiting nurses to the community.

Ebersol said Simon gave him one clue about the man's identity that she said he could reveal: He has the letter "e" in his name.

That could be any of the chief suspects: actor Warren Beatty, whom Simon dated; Mick Jagger, who sang backup on the song; and her ex-husband, James Taylor.

Ebersol said he was happy to put up the cash for a secret he can't tell.

"It's a great cause and I wanted to make sure Carly didn't have to tell a total stranger," Ebersol said.

Tired

I got home from work a little after 1 AM this morning. I've heard of a process called "work hardening," and I think I'm going through it right now. New shift, new activity, and so forth. I enjoy what I do, and I look forward to doing it better. I like being new in that the customers give me a little bit of grace, and when I do something great, they really appreciate it.

I'm off until this Thursday, and I look forward to talking with the woman who hired me about getting onto a set schedule.

I'm still feeling tired, and I look forward to heading to bed soon.

Tom Daschle Must Go

Attention, voters in South Dakota! Please get rid of him. Thank you.