Okay, so I just now did something bad to this blog...

I don't know HOW I did it, but it seems the font in all my posts here is absolutely HUGE! Could just be my browser is having some kind of cyber hissy fit but I dunno... I've checked the HTML on the posts and can't find anything out of the ordinary. Besides which, Blogger stops you from publishing a post if it has HTML errors.

I need another cup of coffee. This is too early in the morning.

Digital 'Smiley Face' Turns 25

:-)
:-)
:-)
:-)
:-)
Happy Birthday!

PITTSBURGH (AP) - It was a serious contribution to the electronic lexicon. :-) Twenty-five years ago, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman says, he was the first to use three keystrokes - a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis - as a horizontal "smiley face" in a computer message. To mark the anniversary Wednesday, Fahlman and his colleagues are starting an annual student contest for innovation in technology-assisted, person-to-person communication. The Smiley Award, sponsored by Yahoo Inc., carries a $500 cash prize. LINK

HOOFERS!!!!

From the "Night of 100 Stars":

Very, very, very old sheet music

This is just an experiment to see if the embed code works. I have quite a collection of antique sheet music from my grandmother and mother and so the subject interests me. I found a collection online and they offer embed links:

Oh, wow. It really works! Yippeeeee!!!! This piece of music (shown above) was first published in 1890, words and music by Adam Geibel. The face in the photo is Contra-tenor John S. Terry.

You can find more images and more music and more EVERYTHING at the New York Public Library's Digital Image Collections. The sheet music collection the above image is from is titled, "American Popular Song Sheet Covers, 1890-1922."

So... okay. Let's have a few more interesting sheet music covers, shall we?


Created 1918, the year my mother was born, by Geoffrey O'Hara.


Created 1921, song / lyric by Gus Kahn & Raymond B. Egan ; music by Richard A. Whiting.


Created 1919 by Paull, E. T., 1858-1924
(I like the cover picture on this one)

Do You Like Apples?

Do you like to snack on apples? Use them for salads or baking? You'll want to have a look at this video which explains about the different kinds of apples.

Apple Recipes

Apple Dolls
An American Folk Doll

Apple Dolls are folk dolls originating from early rural America when settlers made dolls from whatever was at hand. Apple dolls are made by carving a face in an apple and drying it. Due to the different effects drying produces, no two dolls are alike. LEARN HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN APPLE DOLLS.

Police: Man says he stole car to turn himself in

New York resident faces grand larceny charges after being pulled over

GENEVA, N.Y. - A western New York man faces grand larceny charges after being pulled over in a car that he said he stole so he could turn himself in on another charge.

Ontario County sheriff's deputies say they pulled over Vincent Estrada Junior, 29, and found that the car he was driving had recently been stolen from a parking lot.

Police said Estrada was wanted on a family court warrant, and he told deputies he stole the car so he could drive to the Geneva City Police Department to turn himself in.

STORY CONTINUES...

Defining the Meaning of Blonde

Newlywed Game Stupid Blonde

Pssst... I'm a blonde but this girl is just FUNNY!!!!

More Web Weirdness

More Web Weirdness

HUMAN FOR SALE Have you been thinking about putting yourself up for sale lately? Ever wonder how much money you could get on the open human market? HumanForSale.com will attempt to place a value on your life using a variety of criteria in 4 basic facets of life. Among the criteria used include athletic ability, education level, income, amount of exercise, weight, and sense of humor. This is obviously a very subjective matter and is not intended and does not claim to be scientifically accurate. The more honestly you answer the questions, the more realistic the dollar value returned will be. VISIT THE WEBSITE

ELASTIC ENTHUSIASTIC Bounce the lady up and down by moving her and/or the men around on the page. VISIT THE WEBSITE

SexGage.com We will tell you just how sexy you are in 7 clicks...... VISIT THE WEBSITE

I don't get it. VISIT THE WEBSITE

The World Famous Coltness Chess and Lap Dance Club Coltness Chess and Lap Dance Club is a unique concept in entertainment. First established in 1923 the club struggled for many years trying to raise competitive teams with a dwindling membership. In 1998 the newly elected club president, Mike Andover, made radical changes. By combining lap dancing and chess the club was transformed overnight. VISIT THE WEBSITE

Spot the Duck Webcam Welcome to the Spot the Duck Webcam located on the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond in Scotland. Spot was first spotted at Loch Lomond way back in August 2001 and has been sighted several times since. Scientists studying pictures of Spot are totally bewildered as to what type of duck Spot can possible be – there are no known ducks of this type anywhere in the world!! Spot has become an overnight phenomena – an even bigger sensation than the Loch Ness Monster – and he is huge. Tourists from all over the world are rushing to Loch Lomond in the hope of catching a glimpse of Spot. Now you can see him too – if you are patient and lucky. To make it possible to watch for Spot 24x7 we have installed twelve 5 Million Watt spotlights along the banks of the loch – so log on anytime and you may see Spot. VISIT THE WEBSITE

The $39 Experiment "I decided I was going to try something — I was going to take my roll of stamps and send 100 letters to 100 different companies, asking for free stuff. I figured that I couldn't do any worse than blowing the $39 at a casino, and who knows... maybe a few of these places would actually send me something good." VISIT THE WEBSITE

The Strangest - Weirdest – Funniest – Most Bizarre eBay auctions EVER!!!! VISIT THE WEBSITE

Play with LiteBrite online! Heh heh... I made that picture. VISIT THE WEBSITE

T-SHIRT HELL Find the most offensive T-shirts on the planet here. The above samples are just three of the mildest ones I found. VISIT THE WEBSITE

Ghost Stories The best collection of ghost stories on the internet. Superb scary, true ghost stories plus a selection of fictional ghost stories and poems. VISIT THE WEBSITE

StuffOnMyCat.com Do you like to put stuff on your cat? So do we, show us some love and head over to our submissions page to find out how to send us a picture! If your submission meets our "rigorous" standards in the fields of quality and awesomeness we will put it up for all to see. VISIT THE WEBSITE

The Music Genome Project from Pandora Hey! This is cool. Create your own online radio station and play your favorite kind of music and your favorite artists. VISIT THE WEBSITE

IWasAbducted.com Alien Abduction, UFO Sighting, and Crop Circle Phenomena VISIT THE WEBSITE

Men Who Look Like Kenny Rogers VISIT THE WEBSITE

Sketch Swap You draw a sketch and you get to see someone else's sketch and your picture will be shown to yet another person. VISIT THE WEBSITE

BashMyEx.com Exactly what it sounds like. WARNING: Possible strong language and adult subject matter. VISIT THE WEBSITE

Sandals and Socks Pictures of people who wear sandals and socks. VISIT THE WEBSITE

How to Fold a Shirt A lovely video demonstration that will have you amazing all your family and friends with your shirt-folding expertise! VISIT THE WEBSITE

Eccentric America Weird, Wacky, and Outrageously Fun Things to See and Do in the USA VISIT THE WEBSITE

McDonald's Worker Arrested For "Over Salting" Police Officer's Burger

UNION CITY, Ga. (AP) - A 20-year-old McDonald's employee spent a night in jail and is facing criminal charges after a police officer complained that the burger she prepared with too much salt made him sick.

Kendra Bull was charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct and arrested at 1:30 am on Friday. After a court hearing later that morning, she was released on one thousand dollars bond.

Bull said she accidentally spilled too much salt on the hamburger meat, but told her supervisor and another co-worker, who she said tried to thump the salt off. Bull took a break and said she ate a burger made from the salty meat.

Union City Police Officer Wendell Adams ordered a Big N' Tasty at the drive-through window and also got a burger made from the oversalted meat. A short time later, Adams returned to the restaurant and told the manager he had gotten sick from eating it.

MORE...

Diana Ross and the Supremes

Happy birthday, Otis Redding!

The 50 Worst Cars of All Time

The 50 Worst Cars of All Time

From the 1899 Horsey Horseless to the 2004 Chevy SSR, they've got quite a selection. The Ford Explorer is on the list as well as the Chevy Chevette, the Ford Pinto, the Ford Edsel, and the 1920 Briggs and Stratton Flyer. Is your favorite "worst car" on the list? Any cars you think should be added to the list?

1899-1939

1940-1959

1960-1974

1975-1989

1990-Present

Complete List

Deckchair trapped testicles

A Croatian man got a nasty surprise when he tried to get out of his deck chair and found his testicles had got stuck.

Mario Visnjic had gone swimming naked in the sea at the Valalta beach in western Croatia, reports 24sata.

His testicles had shrunk while in the cool sea and slipped through the wooden slats when he sat back down on his wooden deckchair.

But as he lay in the sun they expanded back to normal size and got stuck between the slats.

He was eventually freed after he called beach maintenance services on his mobile phone and they sent a member of staff to cut the deck chair in half.

FROM ANANOVA

Top 10 Disgusting Weird News Stories

From About.com:

1. Man Seeks Chewed Hot Dogs from Contest WinnerWould you buy a bag of half-eaten weiners in an eBay auction?

2. Man Stores Dead Mother in His RefrigeratorHe did that after he'd slept with the corpse for a while.

3. Man Gives Back Wedding Ring to Ex, Severed Finger IncludedThe price of freedom is sometimes steep.

4. Picking Your Nose and Eating It is Not Only Delicious But Also Healthy, Says DocEspecially if preceded by a toe-jam, belly-button fuzz and nail clippings salad.

5. "The Rats Had Partially Consumed His Body""Over my dead body," was his reply when the county told him to clean up.

6. She Crawls Under New Blanket and Finds it Already Occupied by Maggots"Woolworths is very sorry for the distress and inconvenience it has caused Mrs Smith."

7. A Village with a (Urine) Drinking Habit"The first drink tasted so bad, but after several minutes, I was able to manage it."

8. They Save Money By Eating Food from Dumpsters"There are really amazing, perfectly good things like strawberries, onions, sweet potatoes, bananas, cantaloupes, watermelon and always good day-old breads."

9. Botched Nipple Rings Open Door to Flesh-Eating BacteriaWhen you get infections in these areas, "it can be very severe," warned a doctor.

10. Homeowner Wants Blood-Soaked Condo Cleaned UpBody fluids from guy in the condo above, who committed suicide and wasn't found for weeks, drip through man's ceiling.

Society for the promotion of Adventure Games

I'm a writer. I love to write stories. I love games. I've been mildly intrigued by the notion of writing text adventure games but never really tried my hand at it. However... I still collect my resources on the subject. Here's one more:

SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF ADVENTURE GAMES

SPAG is an informative e-zine designed primarily to keep the gaming public aware of text adventures and other types of interactive narrative available today. Most of the space is devoted to reviews. A new edition of SPAG is published each quarter. Generally, you can expect a new issue in January, April, July, and October of each year. If you would like to automatically receive each new issue of SPAG in your email box shortly before it appears on this site, feel free to subscribe. The latest issue of SPAG is # 49, published on August 18, 2007.

SPAG was founded by G. Kevin "Whizzard" Wilson, and is currently edited by Jimmy Maher. The SPAG website was designed by Felix Plesoianu.

Frequently Asked Questions
How to run adventure games
How to play adventure games
Latest issue
Back issues
Review index
Submit a review
Subscribe
New release shelf
Outside links of interest

Marcia! Marcia! Marcia Has a Book Deal!

FROM GALLEYCAT'S BLOG:

HarperEntertainment announced a deal yesterday afternoon for an autobiography from actress Maureen McCormick, a project which author and publisher are "tentatively" calling Here's the Story—because, I hope and pray, some editorial assistant is trying to convince executive editor Maureen O'Brien, a member of Lisa Sharkey's creative development team, that Oh, My Nose! is a much catchier title that will fly off shelves faster. "This autobiography will be a remarkably cautionary tale and inspirational wake up call for today's celebrity youth culture," O'Brien said for the press release, which bullet-points McCormick's battles with bulimia and cocaine addiction, both of which she has discussed on tabloid TV shows in the last year. One tidbit not covered in the press release, but which caused a flurry of excitement among lesbians back in April, was the possibility that McCormick would dish about her crush on co-star Eve Plumb, which may, if reports of her comments on another TV show are accurate, have led to at least one kissing session. You know, that's about the only episode of the abominable TV Land Confidential you could possibly get me to watch, and I bet they won't do it.
LINK

Kanye West PSA on Education

This Day in History... Star Trek was born.

September 8, 1966
Star Trek premieres on NBC-TV.

Well, I guess they know the answer now.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha... I LOVE THIS 7-UP COMMERCIAL!!!!!

Great Cat Picture!

Pumpkins!

It's that time of year again to think of pumpkins! Here are some links and resources for you to enjoy:

PUMPKIN RECIPES (WEBSITES with MORE THAN ONE RECIPE FOR PUMPKINS)
Pumpkin Nook Recipes
Pumpkin Recipes
Better Homes and Gardens Pumpkin Recipes
All Recipes - Pumpkin
About.com Pumpkin Recipes
New England Pumpkin Recipes
The Pumpkin Patch
Pumpkin Masters
The Vegetarian Resource Group
Recipe ZaarPumpkin Pie
Land O' Lakes Pumpkin Recipes
Recipeland
canned pumpkin recipes
Pumpkin Desserts
Pumpkin cupcakes

INDIVIDUAL PUMPKIN RECIPES
LIBBY'S® Famous Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin doughnuts with powdered sugar glaze and spiced sugar doughnut holes
Pumpkin pancakes
Pumpkin Cookie Recipe
Pumpkin bars
Pumpkin bread
Pumpkin Soup
Toasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipes
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Pumpkin Cake
Pumpkin jam
Pumpkin dip
Pumpkin Spice Cake
Pumpkin butter
Pumpkin and Spice Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Pumpkin Ice Cream
Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll
Pumpkin Ale Recipe
Pumpkin Beer
Pumpkin Creme Brulee
pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies
Savory Pumpkin Ravioli
Pumpkin Fudge

PUMPKIN CARVING
Better Homes and Gardens Creative Pumpkin Carving
Pumpkin Carving 101
The Pumpkin Wizard
Extreme Pumpkins
Pumpkin Carving Tools
Ray's 3D pumpkin Carving tutorial
Everything BUT "Halloween" Pumpkin Patterns
DLTK's Holiday Activities Pumpkin Carving Patterns

ARTS & CRAFTS
Jack-O'-Lantern (Pumpkin) Crafts
Pumpkin Projects
Pumpkin Crafts
Soft Sculpture Pumpkin
Pumpkin Floral Centerpiece
Online Pumpkin Coloring
Another pumpkin coloring page
Pumpkin clipart
Pumpkin Images

MISC. WEBSITES
Jack O' Lantern.com
Create Your Own Jack O' Lantern online (Shockwave)
The Pumpkin Patch
Pumpkin Nook
Pumpkin Word Search

Ads you just love to hate...

I found several sources for ads-you-love-to-hate on the internet. Thanks to YouTube Viewers and to Slate Magazine, among others.

Here's a sampling for you:

McDonald's Filet-O-Fish Sandwich

Montgomery Flea Market
(This guy is just CREEPY)

Bill Clinton Voodoo Doll Commercial

(Okay, I snuck this one here because it's funny)

Microsoft Xbox Commercial

(Ha ha ha ha ha... I don't think they intended to send the message that's obviously on everyone's mind when they see this one)

Hyundai Commercial from France

(This commercial was banned - gee, I wonder why? LOL.)

Offensive Horrible Vagisil Ad

(Come on... didn't the Vagina Monologues teach us ladies not to be ashamed of or repulsed by our own private parts? Fortunately, Vagisil took this ad off the air due to consumer complaints)

Creepy new Ask.com ad

(Oh yeah, this pervert got what he was looking for...)

Michael Jackson Pepsi Commercial

(Okay, I LIKE this commercial. Mainly because the kid carrying the radio is the son of one of my best friends. His name is Bryan Anthony and he is now a world-famous choreographer/dancer/singer/actor/entertainer. And he's polite to his Mom's friends. Heh.)