Mad Cow Disease Here in Alabama

I was surprised to see the news reports about a sick cow here in my own state. My first question was where this was found, but they aren't telling us. That's frustrating. Don't we have a right to know?

On the other hand, announcing the location would put the rancher out of business.

Still, it would seem wisest to know where the problem was found so we could make decisions for ourselves on how to react. If this happened near me, I would want to know. I often walk past a cattle pasture and have come almost face-to-face with the cows in my efforts to take photos. Now I will be forever wondering if it happenened to those particular cattle. I wish the powers-that-be would reveal the location of this problem.

Don't Trust Google 100%

I was listening to Leo Laporte's KFI radio show and a caller talked about his online search. He was looking for information about a specific company. Using Google, he could find no negative sites about this name.

On Yahoo, he found MANY negative sites including a site name dedicated to critical views of this exact same company and even bore the name of this person as a web address.

Leo said it could be due to lawsuits where Google was ordered to remove certain kinds of information or it could just be a sad case of greed. The name was a major advertiser on Google - such that their ad came up with a search was done.

Apparently, I can no longer trust Google as my only search engine. From now on, I am going to crosscheck with Yahoo and others. I probably should have been doing this all along. Oh well, another lesson learned.

Star Wars Holiday Special - 1978

Oh my gosh! I can't believe the Star Wars actors made this holiday show. Chewbacca is on his way home to celebrate "Life Day" when things happen. This has the REAL LIFE original actors in it -- Luke, Han, Leia, Darth Vader, etc ... truly amazing to see these characters in additional footage -- even if it is dated with a plot you would expect from a 70s TV show and a bit less than stellar quality on YouTube.

I watched the whole thing -- it is so good to see these actors in character again and to meet Chewbacca's wife and kids (even if I had to stop and snicker now and then - this is VERY corny).

Cracked CD from Netflix and Other Trivia

I got my second CD in the last season of Enterprise from Netflix and it was cracked and dirty as though it had been mishandled long before it got to me. I never did see the last season of this show and was curious to see how it all ended. Guess that will have to wait a bit. Fortunately, Netflix has a good return policy.

My parents want to bring over a movie, Paycheck, to watch with us. Sounds like fun.

I had one of the best breakfasts of my life today -- fried potatoes (hash browns), eggs, sausage, bacon and chocolate milk. We don't dare eat nutritionally bad too often, but it is heaven when we do. I won't be hungry for the rest of the day.

The weather is getting warmer. The higher temperatures are good and bad. I love the flowers and green outside, but I hate the bugs and overheating. Our summers are long and very hot -- jungle-like here. I hope spring lasts a good long time and summer stays off a bit.

Desktop Earth

I just found out about this new active wallpaper, Desktop Earth from Digg.com. Here's how they describe themselves, "Desktop Earth is a wallpaper generator for Windows. It runs whenever you're logged on and updates your wallpaper with an accurate representation of the Earth as it would be seen from space at that precise moment."

This is so cool -- with high resolution pictures and changing as time progresses. It updates every 5 minutes (or at intervals that can be set as desired). Here's my desktop using it.

Cool Voice and Image Speaker

Type in any words at this site, even a few sentences, and you can watch someone speak to you. The fun part is the large selection of male and female voices to choose from. She also follows your cursor around the screen. (Thanks to Lil S. for this link.)

I was able to make her speak three times before the site told me that was enough and would not do it. I came back with a different browser and it worked again -- also worked again the next day. Much fun.

I've seen this on other websites. For an exhorbitant price, a webmaster could include a person like this on their page, speaking to visitors. I loved the idea, but felt the price was much too high for "regular" people. To read more, go to OddCast.com.

Today is My Mom's Birthday

Happy Birthday, Mom!!! Dad turned off his cell phone and whisked Mom away to somewhere private. Hehehe -- they do that sometimes. I suppose, with 7 kids, even though we are all living on our own, they still like to disappear now and then. We will have to find them tomorrow and wish her a happy birthday then.

Not only that, but today is my oldest cat's birthday. Dandelion, a handsome orange and white tabby, is 17 years old today. He is the smartest and most loving cat I know and still going strong.

Woophy.com

Thanks to Jennifer C. who told me about Woophy.com, a site that is collecting photographs from all over the world. It displays a big map where you can zoom in Google-style and then look at the photos from someone anywhere in the world -- very interesting.

Someone is impersonating my cat when posting to other animal blogs. They are posting comments that are a bit crude and that my cat would NEVER say. If anyone reads a comment from my cat and it is not light and friendly, then it is not from me or him. There is nothing more frustrating than being impersonated.