Saturday Six

   Patrick's Saturday Six is a wildly popular, weekly meme that I have never participated in before. I don't know why, it has just never grabbed me. This week, the first question tickled me, and so, here are my answers to this week's Saturday Six.

   This first question needs a little bit of tweaking...

1. You are invited to spend a night, alone, in a large house that is believed to be haunted.  A close friend of yours whom you trust tells you of his or her own experience, and you have sufficient reason to believe that [they may be a complete nutter].  Without promise of any kind of reward for staying the night, would you agree to do so?

Of course I would, without any hesitation, because there are no such things as ghosts.

2. What do you most enjoy about your job?

That would be the part where I quit it 18 months ago.

3. Who was the last person you had a conversation with?  What was the main topic of the conversation?

"Matthew, it's time for bed."
"No."
"Yes."
"Aw."
"Goodnight."
"OK."

4. Take this quiz:   What kind of "smart" are you?

Naturally Smart

You're a naturally smart person. Your intelligence comes to you naturally, rather than from instruction - and you are better with applied or more real-world things... which comes in handy, here in the real world.

20% applied intelligence
60% natural intelligence

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

5. What was the last food that you totally ruined -- to the point that it was inedible -- when trying to cook?

I can't remember. A couple of weeks ago I totally overdid the ribs on the BBQ, but we ate them anyway. My screw-ups tend to be more on the minor, yet additively annoying scale.

6. STRANGELY-OBSCURE QUESTION #1:  If you had to do over again, would you change anything?

I would like to think that I would, and yet, I have a scary suspicion that I would be entirely unable to.

tags:Memes

The polite mask of pride

   The latest edition of CarnivAOL has been published. There are a whole bunch of interesting links to AOL and AIM journals to check out. So, why are you still here?

tags:Blogs,Blogging,CarnivAOL

Weekend assignment

Weekend Assignment #85: What magazines do you subscribe to and why? This assumes you currently subscribe to a magazine or two, of course, but I'm reasonably confident most of us do. If you don't have any current subscriptions, however, you can list some of your most recent subscriptions or magazines you want to subscribe to.

Extra Credit: What was your first magazine subscription?


   We're not a huge magazine family. We used to subscribe to National Geographic, but the wife let that one lapse several years ago. To this day, I'm not really sure why. National Geographic is one of the best sources of information about our natural world that is available. We subscribe to a few, primarily because selling magazine subscriptions is one of the fundraisers my son's school does.
   This year, because Matt is taking guitar lessons, we've ordered a couple of different guitar magazines. One, which I cannot for the life of me remember the name of, is specifically aimed at beginner players, and the other is Guitar Player Magazine, one of the premier guitar mags on the market. Matthew also gets Nintendo Power magazine, and Game Pro magazine, because he is a kid, and he plays lots of video games.
   I subscribed to Golf Digest. I used to get it regularly. My wife would renew it for Fathers' Day every year. This year she let it lapse, and told me to go out, and pick up a few different magazines, and choose a different one to get. I read several different Golf magazines, and decided I liked Golf Digest best, so we subscribed to that one again. I added Score Golf, a six issue per year magazine, primarily because it is Canadian.
   My wife gets Chatelaine. She's not sure why she gets Chatelaine, because she let that subscription lapse last year, but the magazines keep coming, and she keeps throwing them in a pile unopened because she doesn't have the time to read them. I have recently received a couple of phone calls from Chatelaine looking for Pat, so I think the jig is up.

   The first magazine I ever subscribed to was PhotoLife, a Canadian photography magazine. It was the late 80s, and I was working at a camera store. I had about six years worth of that one stored in the basement until I tossed them all into the recycling bin this past summer.

tags:Memes,Weekend Assignment,Books

And a meme...

   Ok, so I'm at SINS' place, and she's been over to Tommy's, and brought back one of those meme thingies, right? It's based on some English radio program, where they ask what four CD's you'd want with you if you were stranded on a desert island. Also, they ask what eight individual songs you'd call must haves if you were making a mix CD to have with you on said desert island. No word on what palm tree you'd be plugging your CD player into, but I digress.
   I must say, I was happy to have four choices for albums. I'm used to the Q107 desert island gig, where they limit you to three. Here are my choices:


What would be your Desert Island Discs?

1) Jeff Beck Band--Truth
2) Bob Marley--Legend
3) Rimsky Korsakov--Scheherezade
4) Pink Floyd--Meddle


8 Must have songs on a mix Cd on a Desert Island?

1) Led Zeppelin--Dazed and Confused (live version from the Soundtrack to The Song remains The Same)
2) The Band--The Weight
3) Dire Straits--Brothers In Arms
4) Eagles--The Last Resort
5) RUSH--2112
6) King Crimson--Epitaph
7) Jimmy Page and Robert Plant--Kashmir (from the album UNLEDDED)
8) Bruce Springsteen--Jungleland

   Wanna play? List your selections in your journal, and drop a link in the comments section here. Or, just list them in a comment. Whatever.

tags:Memes

Do you doubt it?

   Also on the backed-up slate: The Skeptics' Circle, as in the latest edition has been published at Pooflingers Anonymous. Roll on over and check out this regular round up of blogging on the topics of skepticality and critical thinking.

tags:Skepticism,Blogs,Blogging,

At a snail's pace...

   I am getting all backed up by my limited access to the Internet. I have several things to address. I want to start with the Vivi awards.
   I did not address the awards prior to them being...um...awarded, for a couple of reasons. First, because I saw how some people were almost pathetic in their self promotion, and I absolutely did not want to look like some of those I saw crawling around J-Land begging for nominations, and then votes. It was really sad how much this meant to some people. I was also saddened that those people, who most desperately needed the attention, the outside affirmation, those for whom it might have been most therapeutic, did not win. Do not let their bitterness affect you.
   Second, because it didn't really mean much in my category. No disrespect meant to the other to blogs that were nominated for 'Marquis of the Blog,' but let's face it, nobody in J-Land had even heard of those guys before the Vivi nomination process began. I can imagine the conversation that took place via e-mail or IM while the organisers were setting up the categories:
   "Hey, let's have a best Canadian journal category."
   "There are Canadian journals?"
   "Sure, AOL is huge in Canada. There's Paul, and... Hey, does anyone else know any Canadian journalers?"
   There was even a message posted on the AOL journals message board to that effect. I was the one who went over to Technorati, made a search for the journals.aol.ca domain, and posted some results in reply. Don't get me wrong, I think the other two guys who were nominated write great journals. It's just that of those people who participated in the voting, most of them had at least heard of me before, and the other two journals were brand new to them. Best outcome from this situation, Jeremy and Mark have now received some attention. AOL J-Land has expanded to include them. If that has happened in the majority of the categories, and I think that it has, then these awards were truly a success.
   And, don't think I'm not pleased to have won. Personal validation is a part of what blogging is all about, and all the congratulatory comments and e-mails are very gratifying. But, I certainly would not have been sitting here holding my own personal pity party if I had lost. It's just the Internet, people.
   Next year's goal, to be nominated in a different category.

   On a related topic, why was it so hard to find Canadian journals to nominate? There have to be more than three out there. There are no official, public statistics available about how many AOL journals there are, but a source I consider knowledgeable estimates that the number could be on the order of several hundred thousand. Let's be conservative, and say 100,000. Some estimates say that as many as 66% of the blogs in existence are abandoned, having not been updated in more than sixty days. So let's say there are 34,000 active AOL blogs (OK, that's really way conservative. There are, for sure, a lot more than that. Just go with me for the argument's sake).
   (Think about that number for a minute. There are probably more than 34,000 active AOL journals. Quite likely two or three times that many. We had 901 votes for the Vivi awards [and that number can probably be reduced as well, as I am sure there are several people who worked out a way to circumvent the security in order to place several votes for themselves]. In reality, J-Land is but a tiny beauty mark on the face of the AOL journals Cindy Crawford. But I digress.)
   So, let's say there are 34,000 active AOL journals. The population of Canada is approximately 10% of that of The United States, and the proportion holds out over many statistics. If there are X number of something in the USA, there are likely X/10 of that something in Canada. Logically, there should be about 3,500 (or as many as 10,000) Canadian journals. Taking the same ratio, about 90 of them should be known in J-Land. We could find three.
   So, where are all the Canadian journals? There may, in fact, be fewer Canadian journals out there than we might expect, for a couple of reasons. Canadians subscribing to AOL get AOL Canada. Our software is slightly different, and our main information screen is different. It is possible that AOL Canada has not focussed on journals as aggressively as the parent company has in the US, resulting in fewer Canadian users being aware of their availability. As well, those Canadian users that do find out about AOL journals may not, as I have, get a journals.aol.ca address. I originally created two journals: this one, and a private test journal I use for fine tuning the look of entries before I publish them. This journal has an aol.ca address, but my test journal has an aol.com address. Why? I have no idea. That's just the way they came out when I created them. So, there may be hundreds, even thousands of Canadian journalers out there who are not immediately identifiable as such by their journal address.

   A little bit more searching, and I am still having trouble locating Canadian Journals. I did come across these:

Ebanks Adventures: written by the 'caymanadians,' a couple that are currently living in the Cayman Islands. It is not entirely clear, but one or both of them may originally be from Canada.

Rants n Raves from Canada: This one might fall into that category of 'abandoned blogs.' We'll see.

Juanaco's Journal: This one is fairly new. Although it is not explicitly stated, the subject matter appears to be Canadian.

My Journal: In this on it is explicitly stated. The journal of a grade 7 student. Almost a month since the last entry. Another one to wait and see about.

All About This Girl: Another young Canadian journaler. Another one that hasn't been updated for a little while.

the brown fly's views: A journal started by a new immigrant to Canada from the Philippines. Only one entry so far.

   I will bring you new Canadian journals from time to time, as I come across them. If you run across any, please let me know. And, hey, if you are a Canadian AOL journaler reading this, drop me a comment to say Hi.

tags:Blogs,Blogging

Thank you

   I just popped in real quick-like to say thank you to all those who have congratulated me here via comments or e-mail. And, congratulations to all of my well deserved fellow winners, and to all of the nominees, as well. I am having a temporary broadband crisis, and dial-up sucks, so I will not be around much for the next 24-48 hours. Unless, of course, good ol' AOL and Bell Canada get their hineys in gear and fix the problem faster than that.

tags:Blogs,Blogging

Awards night is upon us

OK, I'm ready for the party. I even changed the name back to AWV for the night.



   I can never get a shirt to fit properly.
   I know, it's early, but you know how it is. I want to get there ahead of time, to get a good seat. And, I really don't have any idea where I'm going, so I have to leave lots of time to drive aimlessly around in circles looking for the place. What? You don't actually expect me to stop for directions, do you? See you there.

Many thanks to Kell for the photoshop.

tags:Blogs,Blogging

The Call

   The call has gone out once again for submissions to CarnivAOL. Please drop over there to see what it's all about, and send me some stuff.

tags:Blogs,Blogging,CarnivAOL

A sad story

Friday, September 30, 2005

THREE



   Everywhere you turn in Mandanici, you see evidence of a limited gene pool. For a community of 800 people, the frequency of some sort of handicap is exceptionally high. There are people with obvious, serious physical handicaps, like M.S. I have seen several people with less serious, but still visible defects, like cross-eyedness. And, there are a few people who are slightly mentally handicapped.
   There is a younger gentleman in the piazza across from the bar everyday. I couldn't say exactly what his age is. I say younger only as a contrast to the rest of the retired men who usually congregate there during the day. He is always wearing the same clothes (I don't know if he never changes his clothes, or if he simply owns several of the same outfit), sitting on a bench smoking, or wandering around smoking. He has taken to saying hello to me every time I walk by. I mean every time I walk by. Even if the last time was only fifteen seconds ago.
   At first he would just nod, and say, "Buon Giorno." As time went on, he got bolder, and began walking up to me, and shaking my hand. Now, he has whole conversations with me, even though he has been told numerous times that I can't understand a word he is saying. He's a nice enough guy, but I don't have the time, nor the inclination to stop and say hello to him forty-six times every day. I'm beginning to see why many people around here cross the street when they see him coming.
   Good times.

   This is a sight that has become all too common here in Mandanici. You can imagine that when a thriving community of almost three thousand shrinks to eight hundred people, there are left behind a large number of abandoned buildings. The problem, of course, is that it's a new world.
   Sixty years ago, my father-in-law used to ride his bicycle down the mountainside to the oceanside town of Roccalumera carrying a basket of fruit and vegetables. When they were all sold, he rode back up again. On a good day, he might have time to do it again. His family lived on that income.
   Not that they needed for much. They built their own homes, and grew their own food. Cut their own wood for the stone oven, and raised goats. Today, the young people have to leave town to find work in the larger cities. Mandanici is dying. In another sixty years it may be completely gone.

tags:Italy vacation