Friday Pet Blogging | Get Outta My Box!

(Milo + Otis) / Cardboard Box = Pet Blogging Gold Otis loves the Lillian Vernon box, especially with his blanket sitting in it. He does not, however, like it when his brother Milo tries to check it out. I guess Otis figures that his brother has the kennel to himself, so the box is "his" private space. Well, this past Sunday, Milo finally made it into the box. And he was pretty happy with himself. Otis knew he was in the box, and seemed to be trying to ignore the proceedings ... until he noticed that we were taking pictures of Milo. Then he got jealous of the attention, remembered that he liked to keep the box for himself, etc. So he made his way over to the box so that he could speak to his brother eye to eye (or, perhaps, nose to nose).

"Wooooo! Your breath isn't exactly fresh either."

Soon after this photo was taken, Milo scrambled out of the box. And right after that, Otis crawled into it ... and proceeded to take yet another nap.

And one by one, the pet blogging posts steal my sanity ...

More Pet Blogging See the Friday Ark, featuring a compilation of today's pet blogging posts, over at The Modulator. Check the M&O Archives for some previous Milo & Otis appearances. Carnival of the Cats, coming at you every Sunday. And one of the funniest/cutest/obsessivest (OK, I know that's not a word!) sites for cat photos, StuffOnMyCat.com is a must see. Take it from them: Stuff + Cats = Awesome!

"Boney Kern"

I am working on the light and sound design for another show at Montgomery Theater. There are some new posts about the project over at Confessions of a Serial Theater Lackey. I hope you'll stop by when you get the chance. I'm going to try to catalog as much of the process as I can.

Friday Pet Blogging | Morning Otis

Otis takes great pleasure in nagging everyone out of bed ... only to set up camp there himself!

"That's right! This is *my* bed!"

So demanding.

And one by one, the pet blogging posts steal my sanity ...

More Pet Blogging See the Friday Ark, featuring a compilation of today's pet blogging posts, over at The Modulator. Check the M&O Archives for some previous Milo & Otis appearances. Carnival of the Cats, coming at you every Sunday. And one of the funniest/cutest/obsessivest (OK, I know that's not a word!) sites for cat photos, StuffOnMyCat.com is a must see. Take it from them: Stuff + Cats = Awesome!

Hardware Free Friday

By the way, today is Hardware Free Friday. At least, it is for me. Two weeks ago, I had surgery to remove the pins that had been inserted back in June of 2006 for my broken left foot. But I was not totally free of hardware at that time because the surgeon used staples to hold the incisions. Well, last night I had my post-surgical follow-up and a nurse removed my staples. That means my left foot is now 100% free of hardware! Woo hoo!

Friday Pet Blogging | That Post-Yule Glow

Yes, the Yule tree is still standing. You see, what you don't understand is just how much Milo and Otis love the tree ... and the tree skirt. So, for this week's Pet Blogging offering, Milo rests in the afterglow that was Yule 2006 -- as snapped on January 4, 2007.

Milo just doesn't want to let go of that Yuletide feeling

That cute little face is going to be sad when the tree comes down.

And one by one, the pet blogging posts steal my sanity ...

More Pet Blogging See the Friday Ark, featuring a compilation of today's pet blogging posts, over at The Modulator. Check the M&O Archives for some previous Milo & Otis appearances. Carnival of the Cats, coming at you every Sunday. And one of the funniest/cutest/obsessivest (OK, I know that's not a word!) sites for cat photos, StuffOnMyCat.com is a must see. Take it from them: Stuff + Cats = Awesome!

Photos: Adelaide Hills Alight

I'm a little late on this, but this morning's news reported that a nasty bushfire has been burning in the Adelaide Hills (Australia). According to The Age -- which is linked in this post:

... [The fire denied] for 24 hours the efforts of 300 firefighters to bring it under control.

The Country Fire Service (CFS) said the blaze had destroyed more than 2,000 hectares of heavily wooded bushland south-east of the city and was burning vigorously within containment lines.

It had also destroyed a historic building near the Mt Bold Reservoir. The unoccupied property known as Yaroona was gutted on Wednesday night.

I bring this to your attention becaues AdelaideNow has an impressive photo gallery, documenting the blaze. The gallery, titled "Adelaide Hills Alight," collects 25 images of the raging fire, like this one of the aforementioned Mount Bold:

My prayers go out to the fine folks of Adelaide and their brave firefighters.

"No English on this Bus!"

Now here is something that just makes me cranky. I mean, I hate the fact that most ATMs in the US force you to "Please select a language" before you can start working with it. Yes, I understand that we are in a global economy, and that the folks behind the ATM software just might be trying to more easily sell there wares overseas. But I feel that in America, the default should simply be English, with an option to pick another language should there be a need for it. I suppose I should just be happy that the machine's language query is in English ... and that my bank has not designated any machines for non-English speaking customers only. Yeesh!

Kids kicked off a bus for speaking English Updated: 01/10/2007 11:24:52 AM Imagine sending your kids off to school, but when they get to the bus they are told they can't get on because they speak English. That's right, English. It happened to a few children in St. Paul and now the school district is apologizing. Rachel Armstrong sent her kids to pick up the bus as usual Monday, but after the driver let the kids on, he told them he would not pick them up again. He even said he wouldn't take them home that afternoon. Armstrong left work early Tuesday, forced to pick up her kids from Phalen Lake Elementary School. Her twin girls, 10, and her son, 8, were kicked off their regular school bus. They were told by the bus driver the route is for non-English speaking students only. "I was furious. I was at work and I was just mad." Armstrong said. "I felt like we were being discriminated because we speak English. Just because they speak English, they can't ride the school bus. I mean, this is America, right?" Administrators at St. Paul Public Schools admit the district made a mistake when it stranded the kids at school Monday... [ Full Story ]

cRANKy

Proving there is a niche market for just about anything, cRANKy debuts as a search engine specifically for 'net-savvy seniors.

Cranky, a search engine for seniors Posted Jan 10th 2007 9:30AM by Chris Gilmer Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services A new search engine targeted at people aged 50-plus called Cranky.com launched on Tuesday. Billed as the first age-relevant search engine, the developer of the engine designed it to deliver the most targeted results for this demographic. They did this by applying a "50-plus lens to every query". So the results are based on both search technology, reviews and users ratings. Eons, the developer, analyzed and reviewed the most popular sites visited by over 500,000 web users in that age group, and based on that research reviewed the top 5,000 web sites. Way to go Eons, this seems like a great idea. I know it tends to be a little overwhelming for my grandparents to surf the web, and a site like this might really help out their searching endeavours.

[from downloadsquad ]

Quotable: Specialization

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a chip, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, pitch manure, solve equations, analyze a new problem, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -- Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction author (1907 - 1988) from Time Enough For Love: The Notebooks of Lazarus Long (1973)

Housekeeping

During my hiatus, I noticed a number of things I don't like about Prophet or Madman. One is the appearance -- I need to update the look around here. This post, however, is not about unveiling a new look. This is about the other thing that bothered me: bad links. Several of the blogs I try to follow have gone through a change or two that must be reflected in ye ol' blogroll. So, I've updated the URLs for A Heathen Blog, Dependable Renegade, in my own words (formerly thoughts from an empty room), poohead, and Tête-a-Tête-Tête. If any of my visitors had relied on my humble site to access those fine (and more frequently updated) pages, I do apologize. Of course, not every change is simply a change in address. The Bull Moose, which seems to have closed shop back in November of '06, has been removed. There are a few other blogs on this list that have not been updated in a while. But their addresses are still correct and I am holding out hope that they -- as I recently have -- will come out of their respective dormancies and begin bloggin' anew. Oh, and please bid a raring Prophet or Madman welcome to Freyrs Domain, the latest addition to the blogroll. That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

Friday Pet Blogging | Toast

I previously posted a set of resolutions, and I don't want to break them too soon. So here is the return of Friday Pet Blogging at Prophet or Madman! Mrs. Brainwise and I observed the dawn of the new year as we usually do -- in front of the television. We usually watch a movie or two and then toast the new year after the ball drops (as hosted by the unstoppable Dick Clark). As you can see in this week's Pet Blogging offering, Otis had a hankering for some bubbly:

"Is that for me? I love 2007!"

I'm surprised he didn't go for that chocolate piece that was sitting practically in front of his little nose.

And one by one, the pet blogging posts steal my sanity ...

More Pet Blogging See the Friday Ark, featuring a compilation of today's pet blogging posts, over at The Modulator. Check the M&O Archives for some previous Milo & Otis appearances. Carnival of the Cats, coming at you every Sunday. And one of the funniest/cutest/obsessivest (OK, I know that's not a word!) sites for cat photos, StuffOnMyCat.com is a must see. Take it from them: Stuff + Cats = Awesome!

Quotable: Honest Offense

He who dares not offend cannot be honest. -- Thomas Paine, philosopher and writer (1737-1809)

Happy Birthday Mr. Tolkien!

John Ronald Reuel (J.R.R.) Tolkien January 3, 1892 - September 2, 1973

Raise a glass to Mr. Tolkien:

January 3^rd 2007 the toast will be "The Professor"! Sign up online to show you're taking part in this global celebration as fans around the world raise a glass and toast J.R.R. Tolkien's Birthday at http://www.tolkiensociety.org/toast/2007/index.html.

More Tolkien Links:

Tolkien Timeline

The Tolkien Society

The Electronic Beowulf

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Quotable: Simplifying Life

Simplifying our lives does not mean sinking into idleness, but on the contrary, getting rid of the most subtle aspect of laziness: the one which makes us take on thousands of less important activities. -- Matthiew Ricard

Article: Think Like a Genius

"Think Like a Genius" is a great article for starting off the new year. Go visit the Study Guides and Strategies web site for the full article and other tips.

THINK LIKE A GENIUS Michael Michalko Even if you're not a genius, you can use the same strategies as Aristotle and Einstein to harness the power of your creative mind and better manage your future. The following eight strategies encourage you to think productively, rather than reproductively, in order to arrive at solutions to problems. "These strategies are common to the thinking styles of creative geniuses in science, art, and industry throughout history." [See the full article for a description of each strategy.] 1. Look at problems in many different ways, and find new perspectives that no one else has taken (or no one else has publicized!) 2. Visualize! 3. Produce! A distinguishing characteristic of genius is productivity. 4. Make novel combinations. Combine, and recombine, ideas, images, and thoughts into different combinations no matter how incongruent or unusual. 5. Form relationships; make connections between dissimilar subjects. 6. Think in opposites. 7. Think metaphorically. 8. Prepare yourself for chance. [ Full Story ]