downtown atlanta's a mess due to a tornado passing through at about 9 tonight. jenna and i were safely tucked away at stevie b.'s on the northwest side, far from the twister.
hang in there folks downtown. marta's closed so the folks from the SEC game can't really get out of downtown. but nothing's open so there's not really anywhere to go. and more weather coming.
frigging march. you can't live with it, you can't totally skip it.
March 14, 2008
March 04, 2008
ding dong ditch it.
Yes I know. I haven't been writing here much. You think that's bad, you should see how many blogs I'm not reading.
ba-da-bing!
I realized I haven't opened up my aggrevator in probably three months.
It's not that I don't care about bloggers. It's just that I don't care what bloggers are saying.
eeesh - that ought to win me a popularity contest.
Did you know that you too can not read blogs or write blogs and live? Yes we can. I am testimony to change.
Which brings me to my post today, being that my "kill the man with the ball" post gave me the most tickles down deep I've had in the blogworld in a v. long time. I have decided to dedicate this post to another less-than-PC childhood game: Ding Dong Ditch It.
I said something to Jenna today, with George listening, whereby I used another one of my childhood yarns to draw an analogy (a sign you're getting old).
"It's like when we played ding-dong-ditch it," I said, illustrating how annoying something small can sometimes be.
I heard the familiar uproar of laughter from George's computer chair, in which he was sitting.
"Ding what?"
Again - the disconnect of cultures.
"Ding Dong Ditch It--Oh here we go again. Tell me you haven't heard of ding-dong-ditch-it. Where you ring the bell and run? Hey, I'm not saying it's nice, but we did it in my neighborhood."
Turns out he'd never heard the name ding-dong-ditch-it, though he was familiar with the concept.
Which inspires me to ask you: Did you do this bad thing? And if so, WTF was it called in your neighborhood?
---
ba-da-bing!
I realized I haven't opened up my aggrevator in probably three months.
It's not that I don't care about bloggers. It's just that I don't care what bloggers are saying.
eeesh - that ought to win me a popularity contest.
Did you know that you too can not read blogs or write blogs and live? Yes we can. I am testimony to change.
Which brings me to my post today, being that my "kill the man with the ball" post gave me the most tickles down deep I've had in the blogworld in a v. long time. I have decided to dedicate this post to another less-than-PC childhood game: Ding Dong Ditch It.
I said something to Jenna today, with George listening, whereby I used another one of my childhood yarns to draw an analogy (a sign you're getting old).
"It's like when we played ding-dong-ditch it," I said, illustrating how annoying something small can sometimes be.
I heard the familiar uproar of laughter from George's computer chair, in which he was sitting.
"Ding what?"
Again - the disconnect of cultures.
"Ding Dong Ditch It--Oh here we go again. Tell me you haven't heard of ding-dong-ditch-it. Where you ring the bell and run? Hey, I'm not saying it's nice, but we did it in my neighborhood."
Turns out he'd never heard the name ding-dong-ditch-it, though he was familiar with the concept.
Which inspires me to ask you: Did you do this bad thing? And if so, WTF was it called in your neighborhood?
---
February 20, 2008
February 19, 2008
kill the man with the ball.
You know those moments, when you're using an analogy that you think will be universally understood -- at least, say, by your spouse -- and in the middle of nodding your head in that "yeah, right?" way you see their eyes staring at you with that, "Wha?" expression.
At that instant, you feel your words making less sense than you remember. You realize they have no idea what you're talking about. You question your own sanity--at least your own memory.
So then you test your contextual reference out on a friend to see if maybe you're crazy--if maybe you were the only one who played "Kill the Man with the Ball" as a kid.
I'm just sayin'.
Because tonight I was telling George something interesting and using the "Kill the Man with the Ball" game to illustrate my particular point, until I realized that he'd never actually HEARD of Kill the Man with the Ball, at which point I said:
You never played kill the man with the ball? Like never?
He was emphatic: No. I never played, nor have I heard of, "Kill the Man with the Ball."
Odd, no?
So then I asked a friend on chat--Did you ever play Kill the Man with the Ball?
Same answer. "Kill the Who? Uh, I played dodge ball?"
No, it's not dodge-ball.
So my question to you is have you ever played Kill the Man with the Ball, and if you HAVE, then you must explain how the game works in comments or in a post of your own so that I can tell if you're lying to make me feel better, or if you are indeed my homie.
At that instant, you feel your words making less sense than you remember. You realize they have no idea what you're talking about. You question your own sanity--at least your own memory.
So then you test your contextual reference out on a friend to see if maybe you're crazy--if maybe you were the only one who played "Kill the Man with the Ball" as a kid.
I'm just sayin'.
Because tonight I was telling George something interesting and using the "Kill the Man with the Ball" game to illustrate my particular point, until I realized that he'd never actually HEARD of Kill the Man with the Ball, at which point I said:
You never played kill the man with the ball? Like never?
He was emphatic: No. I never played, nor have I heard of, "Kill the Man with the Ball."
Odd, no?
So then I asked a friend on chat--Did you ever play Kill the Man with the Ball?
Same answer. "Kill the Who? Uh, I played dodge ball?"
No, it's not dodge-ball.
So my question to you is have you ever played Kill the Man with the Ball, and if you HAVE, then you must explain how the game works in comments or in a post of your own so that I can tell if you're lying to make me feel better, or if you are indeed my homie.
JFK's "Intellectual Blood Bank" Helping Obama Rock.
I heard that legendary speech writer Ted Sorensen, whom JFK called his "intellectual blood bank" (the kind of writer that actually helps you figure out what you think by bringing clarity to your language), is tweaking Obama's speeches because he believes Barack Obama is the best candidate to guide America through the complexities of the current and coming times. I was psyched to find the video where Sorensen talks about then and now.
February 18, 2008
The Terror Within
Dear President Bush,
Thank you for keeping us safe these last 8 years, or at least keeping everyone so pre-occupied with the threat of terror from outsiders that we would put up with just about anything from your administration in a psychologically-crippling attempt to feel safe.
I know you and your administration have been very busy spending money so that America's fine young men and women have the tools they need to die in greater numbers in service to this country. You've done an amazing job on that. Pat yourself on the back.
I'm just wondering, is this busy schedule the reason that federal inspectors at the USDA haven't had the time or manpower to conduct regular and proper inspections of the slaughterhouse in Chino, California at the center of the most recent and largest meat recall in U.S. history?
You know, the one that supplies meat to our nation's schools, to the reservations where Native Americans live (whose families survived that pesky smallpox thing the first time around), survivors of natural disasters (joke's on them), and to disabled shut-ins who can't get to the grocery store to shop for untainted food?
It's not enough that you've screwed up the public education system nearly beyond repair with No Child Left Behind, but now you've made sure that the children of your buddies attending private school have one up on the rest of us by making sure our kids are one step closer to mad cow disease, e-coli and salminella infection, and diseases-yet-to-be-named.
Haven't you killed enough people yet?
I was a vegetarian for 8 years, during that time a member of the Humane Society and PETA, and I know the state of the factory farming industry in this country. I realize that every bite of meat my family takes poses a potential health risk due to the use of antibiotics and growth hormones routinely used in industrial agriculture.
BUT BUT BUT funneling downed and disease cows onto school lunch trays, into programs that serve the disabled, and onto reservations is criminal.
Republicans, your great administrations just fed your grandparents and kids road kill. Hell, road kill would be better! Mad opossum disease hasn't gone mainstream yet.
Now I'm just wondering, do think the way to solve this problem is to fire two employees from the plant using standard hush-hush operating procedures, probably making $6 an hour? 'Cause that's the only solution I've heard so far. You're such an idiot.
Well, I better close this letter out now. I know you have a lot on your own plate (I bet not recalled beef though!), what with your recent endorsement McCain. Just know that you've once again done a bang-up job keeping our children safe.
Thank you for keeping us safe these last 8 years, or at least keeping everyone so pre-occupied with the threat of terror from outsiders that we would put up with just about anything from your administration in a psychologically-crippling attempt to feel safe.
I know you and your administration have been very busy spending money so that America's fine young men and women have the tools they need to die in greater numbers in service to this country. You've done an amazing job on that. Pat yourself on the back.
I'm just wondering, is this busy schedule the reason that federal inspectors at the USDA haven't had the time or manpower to conduct regular and proper inspections of the slaughterhouse in Chino, California at the center of the most recent and largest meat recall in U.S. history?
You know, the one that supplies meat to our nation's schools, to the reservations where Native Americans live (whose families survived that pesky smallpox thing the first time around), survivors of natural disasters (joke's on them), and to disabled shut-ins who can't get to the grocery store to shop for untainted food?
Hallmark products distributed to the National School Lunch Program, the Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations on hold, according to the USDA’s Web site.Well as long as we're safe from threats outside of this country.
A disturbing undercover video showing cows too sick to stand being shoved with forklifts or dragged with chains across a cement floor at a Southern California slaughterhouse has sparked the largest beef recall in the nation's history.Wshew. As long as we're safe from terror.
"Because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection, Food Safety and Inspection Service has determined them to be unfit for human food and the company is conducting a recall," Schafer said in a statement.
The most alarming element of this recall is the USDA's assertion that the company violated regulations prohibiting "non-ambulatory" or "downer" cows from entering the food supply. This regulation was put in place specifically as part of a concentrated effort to prevent Mad Cow disease, also known as BSE, from entering the U.S. food supply.You bastard - Under your watch my child was fed beef from downed and diseased cows at an operation that went uninspected by your employees, while I paid for it wit my tax dollars! I paid you to poison my child. I guess that makes both of us stupid.
It's not enough that you've screwed up the public education system nearly beyond repair with No Child Left Behind, but now you've made sure that the children of your buddies attending private school have one up on the rest of us by making sure our kids are one step closer to mad cow disease, e-coli and salminella infection, and diseases-yet-to-be-named.
Twenty-four Georgia school districts, including Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties, had already put a hold on use of the suspect beef. But as much as 150,000 pounds of the beef, which is used in everything from spaghetti sauce to taco fillings, was served to students before the USDA placed a hold on the meat Jan. 30, according to the state Department of Education.Fucker.
Haven't you killed enough people yet?
I was a vegetarian for 8 years, during that time a member of the Humane Society and PETA, and I know the state of the factory farming industry in this country. I realize that every bite of meat my family takes poses a potential health risk due to the use of antibiotics and growth hormones routinely used in industrial agriculture.
BUT BUT BUT funneling downed and disease cows onto school lunch trays, into programs that serve the disabled, and onto reservations is criminal.
Republicans, your great administrations just fed your grandparents and kids road kill. Hell, road kill would be better! Mad opossum disease hasn't gone mainstream yet.
Now I'm just wondering, do think the way to solve this problem is to fire two employees from the plant using standard hush-hush operating procedures, probably making $6 an hour? 'Cause that's the only solution I've heard so far. You're such an idiot.
Well, I better close this letter out now. I know you have a lot on your own plate (I bet not recalled beef though!), what with your recent endorsement McCain. Just know that you've once again done a bang-up job keeping our children safe.
February 13, 2008
Going Solo - get your earlier bird discount...
Going Solo looks like a GREAT conference and I wish I had the dough and the time off work to get over there. A one-day conference for freelancers from all over Europe, the conference is organized by Going Far, Stephanie Booth’s new media company. Stephanie has a great deal on earlier bird registration (deepp dissscouunttts!). Earlier bird registration (before early bird) ends this week-end, Swiss time.
If you go, send me a post card??
SO head to Lausanne, on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, on 16th May 2008 to learn how to make the most of going it alone in the social media world, and catch up with my friends, Stephanie, Stowe, Suw Charman, Martin Roell, and others.
If you go, send me a post card??
February 11, 2008
February 07, 2008
Been There. Appreciate That.
Jenna had a four-day stay in Children's Hospital of Atlanta a few years ago when she got a staph infection from a cat bite. The people there were amazing, the care was wonderful, the staff was reassuring, and the Dr.'s figured out what was wrong and got our child well.Even with the exorbitant insurance premium we were paying at that time, we still ended up owing a couple thousand in deductible $, which Children's caringly and respectfully worked with us on until what we could pay was affordable for us.
If your city isn't listed in this contest for a free new hospital playroom from Colgate, please vote for Atlanta's Children's Hospital.
It only takes 2 clicks to vote.
Thank you for your consideration. Use the Internets wisely.
February 06, 2008
Sprinkle, Swim, Just don't bail out of town this summer.
so explain this to me....
yesterday, a reversal of a covertly-made law between the army corps of engineers and Georgia's shady government that allowed us NOT TO SEND 25% of lake Lanier's water to Alabama and Florida was struck down. In other words, not only do we not have much water left, but we now have to pony up a quarter of the droplets we've been hogging and send it to our neighbors downstream.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2008/2008-02-05-093.asp or http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/us/06water.html
That news came yesterday.
TODAY sonny perdue our esteemed fuckgovernorasshole announced his new water conservation measures, which in effect RELAX the conservation measures he had in place to make sure we didn't all dry up and die. So, this summer, we can now fill our pools and even water our lawns (no sprinklers tho kids), and resume business as usual. Don't worry, be happy!
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/02/06/water_0207.html
Can someone -- anyone -- explain this to me?
Is this a spin attempt to do damage control on yesterday's "Georgia has to give back water to Alabama and Florida" story so that people won't run away come May? Or is this a 'screw you' to Georgia's neighbors saying, you can have your 25% after we use it all?
Or is Sonny playing the Rapture Card, figuring by the time it matters, it won't matter?
discuss.
yesterday, a reversal of a covertly-made law between the army corps of engineers and Georgia's shady government that allowed us NOT TO SEND 25% of lake Lanier's water to Alabama and Florida was struck down. In other words, not only do we not have much water left, but we now have to pony up a quarter of the droplets we've been hogging and send it to our neighbors downstream.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2008/2008-02-05-093.asp or http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/us/06water.html
That news came yesterday.
TODAY sonny perdue our esteemed fuckgovernorasshole announced his new water conservation measures, which in effect RELAX the conservation measures he had in place to make sure we didn't all dry up and die. So, this summer, we can now fill our pools and even water our lawns (no sprinklers tho kids), and resume business as usual. Don't worry, be happy!
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/02/06/water_0207.html
Can someone -- anyone -- explain this to me?
Is this a spin attempt to do damage control on yesterday's "Georgia has to give back water to Alabama and Florida" story so that people won't run away come May? Or is this a 'screw you' to Georgia's neighbors saying, you can have your 25% after we use it all?
Or is Sonny playing the Rapture Card, figuring by the time it matters, it won't matter?
discuss.
February 05, 2008
Last Chance, America. Let's Get It Right.
I voted today for the first time in 28 years.
I was so far removed from the political system that, despite my proactive registration at the library in December 2007, I fell between the cracks. Apparently, my registration never made it from the librarian's hands into the system, however that's supposed to work. When I looked online to find my polling site, there was no record of me. When I went to the nearest polling place this morning to vote, I got confirmation that I didn't exist.
The polling officials let me vote provisionally, but I had to drive down to the board of elections to tell them my story if I wanted a chance for my vote to count.
But when I got there, they told me I was indeed not in the system, but to go to a different polling place and fill out another provisional ballot, in order for my vote to count. I asked if I shouldn't go get my provisional ballot and bring it to the right place, but that's not allowed. So, I drove another 20 minutes to the new polling place.
When I got there, they explained that no, I couldn't vote there because I had filled out the ballot at the other polling place. They were sorry, but the lady at the elections office had given me the wrong instructions.
Thankfully the head official at the polling place offered to follow me over to the original polling place, where I had filled out my original provisional ballot. When I got there, I had to fill in some additional information on some additional forms to make me legal. We crossed "t"s and dotted "i"s.
I figure even though it took me 2 hours to vote, if you spread that across 28 years, it's really not so bad. I just hope it counts.
The next step in the process is somehow proving that I submitted the registration to the library in December, which I did (see post here: http://allied.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-have-not-voted-in-27-years.html, wherein I mention that I had registered a couple weeks prior to the date of my Jan 3 post. The last day to register was January 7.
I wonder if my blog can count as proof of registration prior to the deadline?
When I asked the poll workers what could have happened to my registration, two different times they mentioned that they had been having some problems with people who registered at the libraries and at the DMV. That rather sucks considering that's probably how most people who aren't registered GET registered.
Now if I were a bona fide conspiracy theorist, I might have suspected that the White County librarian noticed I was registering as a Democrat and put my registration in the bin marked Bartow County Dump instead of Board of Elections.
But you know me - I don't have a suspicous bone in my body.
heh.
---
I was so far removed from the political system that, despite my proactive registration at the library in December 2007, I fell between the cracks. Apparently, my registration never made it from the librarian's hands into the system, however that's supposed to work. When I looked online to find my polling site, there was no record of me. When I went to the nearest polling place this morning to vote, I got confirmation that I didn't exist.
The polling officials let me vote provisionally, but I had to drive down to the board of elections to tell them my story if I wanted a chance for my vote to count.
But when I got there, they told me I was indeed not in the system, but to go to a different polling place and fill out another provisional ballot, in order for my vote to count. I asked if I shouldn't go get my provisional ballot and bring it to the right place, but that's not allowed. So, I drove another 20 minutes to the new polling place.
When I got there, they explained that no, I couldn't vote there because I had filled out the ballot at the other polling place. They were sorry, but the lady at the elections office had given me the wrong instructions.
Thankfully the head official at the polling place offered to follow me over to the original polling place, where I had filled out my original provisional ballot. When I got there, I had to fill in some additional information on some additional forms to make me legal. We crossed "t"s and dotted "i"s.
I figure even though it took me 2 hours to vote, if you spread that across 28 years, it's really not so bad. I just hope it counts.
The next step in the process is somehow proving that I submitted the registration to the library in December, which I did (see post here: http://allied.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-have-not-voted-in-27-years.html, wherein I mention that I had registered a couple weeks prior to the date of my Jan 3 post. The last day to register was January 7.
I wonder if my blog can count as proof of registration prior to the deadline?
When I asked the poll workers what could have happened to my registration, two different times they mentioned that they had been having some problems with people who registered at the libraries and at the DMV. That rather sucks considering that's probably how most people who aren't registered GET registered.
Now if I were a bona fide conspiracy theorist, I might have suspected that the White County librarian noticed I was registering as a Democrat and put my registration in the bin marked Bartow County Dump instead of Board of Elections.
But you know me - I don't have a suspicous bone in my body.
heh.
---
February 04, 2008
January 21, 2008
despinification
Good advice, beautifully said, as usual, by doc.
| "To me the best of blogging isn’t measured by influence, popularity, traffic or the money that measurement of those bring in the from advertising. In fact, I’m not sure what makes blogging good is measurable at all. That’s because what makes makes blogging good is nothing more than being interesting, useful or both... "What makes a snowball roll is not influence. It’s participation. Barns are not raised by neighbors in thrall of “A-list” farmers. They are raised by people who know how to build barns, and who know and work with the farmer who needs the barn." |
| |
I want to go too, Tyler.
"Watched "I Have A Dream" with my 4-year-old this afternoon. He wanted to know when he could go to the mountaintop." -- Denise Howell
---
---
commdisunity
damn, huh. that was 2002.
(...and one promised to quit, but never did.)
fracture, shatter, disunity, dismay.
i see your nostalgia and raise you some sadness.
---
(...and one promised to quit, but never did.)
fracture, shatter, disunity, dismay.
i see your nostalgia and raise you some sadness.
---
What's in a name?
Kind of makes you hope Yahoo's name means what it stands for - You Always Have Other Options. 'Memba that?
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