How a Blog Can Help Your Business

This article is about how a blog can be a promotion tool. The article states, "Blogs are a powerful tool for marketing and promotion." Some things need all the publicity they can get.

The article says that short entries with many links can keep attention more than long diatribles and written reports.

Music as a Judge of Personality

"Playlistism" is emerging on college campuses thanks to iTunes music sharing. According to Wired, students are shunning those with terrible taste in music. Your music says a lot about you, apparently. (From Leoville.com)

When I was a teenager, people came over and flipped through your record albums. Then came cassettes and 8-tracks followed by CDs. Finally, we all convert over to CDs and now the hard drive may become the main music storage device for some - and its one that people carry around with them so nobody has to come over to your house.

I am worried about CDs. I read that CDs from 2 years ago are already losing data. I thought they would hold information longer than anything else. Apparently not. DVDs may not, either.

Speaking of preserving things, regular film-developed color photos were said to last about 50 years without serious fading (if stored correctly). Now, Wal-Mart and others print photos on Fuji Crystal paper. Those are said to last 70 years without serious fading. As wonderful as computers are, photos and documents ought to be printed out if you want them to last. It's hard to keep transferring things from one format to another over and over.

Chess Games

Leoville.com reports that, "World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov was forced into a draw yesterday by computer program X3D in the first game of the four game man vs. machine chess championship."

I used to love playing chess and I was pretty good. In college, one roommate loved to have me play chess with her dates and stomp them.  I was pretty good until I started dating my husband. He was a chess genius. I told him that I was good and challenged him to a game. Little did I know he had beaten an official chess master once! He checkmated me in very few moves. I was flabbergasted. I played several games with him -- all with the same quick finish. I suppose the noble thing to do was learn from him, but I suddenly found myself losing an interest in chess.

He set chess aside for a while, but has recently taken it back up again, playing the computer. Chess games are better today than before, but my husband says it is not the same as playing a human so he is honing his skills until that moment when the next hapless victim, er friend, comes along

Which Biological Molecule are You?

I usually follow Doc into Quizilla. Here's the latest one he took. One thing I like about this quiz was the variety of answers offered -- almost something for everyone.

You are water. You're not really organic; you're
neither acidic nor basic, yet you're an acid
and a base at the same time. You're strong
willed and opinionated, but relaxed and ready
to flow. So while you often seem worthless,
without you, everything would just not work.
People should definitely drink more of you
every day.

Which Biological Molecule Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Rare Double Meteor Shower Right Now

Today and peaking again on the 19th, the earth is moving through two meteor showers. It's the Leonid and the debris from another comet. I like going outside to see what we can. The problem is that our city is so bright, it's hard to see. The moon is pretty bright these days, too. Still, if we go out into the park, it's dark enough to find a few things. I can always spot the Orion constellation, if nothing else.

Spy Sweeper = Nagware

I recommended this program. It does a good job, but it nags you to death after a several days. I found a way to make some use of it. Uninstall it. Then, to be sure nothing is running in the memory, do a cold reboot (turn the computer off for 30 to 60 seconds, then reboot). Run RegSeeker which removes all trace of it, then reinstall Spy Sweeper. It will be good for a few days again. I ran the latest updates of SpyBot, followed by AdAware and then Spy Sweeper. Each program found spyware that the other had missed although SpySweeper gets a little too enthusiastic. It deleted a few files I wanted to keep. It even deleted lines out of my own text files -- good thing I had backups. Argh! All I can say is that it does a good job catching many things the other missed, but examine the file list carefully before deleting anything.

Perfume or not to Perfume?

I love Garden Botanika stuff. They used to have stores in malls. They pulled out of most stores and do an online business, for the most part. Their main gimmick was to offer a large array of smells that could be made into perfumes, lotions, etc., of any smell combination desired. During the holiday season, I get a combo of vanilla and spice or pumpkin and spice. Sometimes I get lime or lemon. Once I got chocolate lotion -- that was fun.

One combination I like is honey-citrus. The honey smells real. Unfortunately, my husband and daughter hate the smell so I only wear it when I am going to be alone most of the day. I am really "stinking" like it now. This stuff is strong.

Perfumes are fun -- but I hate causing anyone to have an asthma attack (like my mother - I can wear no perfume around her) so I constantly debate how much to put on or whether to wear it at all when going out in public. I tried wearing it when I exercised outside. That was a mistake because it attracted bugs so I changed to "Off."

While I like crazy scents, I also love the "good" stuff - Jessica McClintock is my favorite perfume. I also like "Ralph" and others too expensive to buy often. Unfortunately, my husband hates Jessica McClintock, too. At least we both like the almond scent from Crabtree and Evelyn (the best!) and we agree on several other scents.

I also like the smell of fresh soap -- like Coast soap (used in our home). Does anyone else out there have a favorite cologne or do you hate to be around people who wear them?

A Love Story

I remember reading this last year. When K.P. sent it to me this year, it still caught me by surprise, but it makes a good point.

I get a flu shot every year. It's no fun at all to have the flu and it sends my blood sugar soaring. I understand why some folks would not want to, but for me, it's a must. I work with small children in church. We catch everything that goes around.

Why U.S. Broadband is Slower

My husband pointed out this article in Parade Magazine yesterday. I did not know our online connections were  slower than other countries. I wish our cable company would provide a less-expensive option where we can have Internet access without having to buy into their e-mail and web space plans. I do not want to use their e-mail service because if I change providers, there goes my e-mail address.

Left Brain Struggles with the Right Brain

Here's a quick and simple test to demonstrate how the left brain can conflict with the right brain. It only takes a minute or so. (Thanks, L.S., for sending this to me.) (My score was 100.)

Color Test

Man in the Dark

Being the weekend with no time schedule, I got up very early and walked the greenway today. We had a full orange and very large moon sinking into western sky just before dawn. (BTW, there's an eclipse here around 7 pm tonight.) Since the moon was gone, the greenway was pretty dark. Inspite of that, joggers are always around. I saw one coming up from the shadows so I stepped over to one side of the trail.

As I got closer, I noticed that he wasn't moving, just standing there which made me a little nervous. He kept standing there, unmoving in the dark and I began to wonder if I should turn around. (The only people who ever stand still are talking to others or letting their dogs do their thing.) I began to think he was waiting for me.

Anyway, I decided to keep forging on. To my surprise, I walked past a large sign in the middle of the path. It said "Turn Around Here." Apparently, the "man" was just a man-sized sign placed in the very middle of the trail. Today is the annual half marathon which runs along part of the greenway. Whew!

Further down the trail was an aid station already set up with several barrels of Gatorade and cups. I never got to see the runners since I was done with my 5-mile walk before they arrived. Huntsville has a reputation for being a great marathon host. People are generally supportive. I usually recognize a few faces in the crowd.

Muffin Films

J.C. sent this link. I spent half the morning watching all 12 mini-films. My husband even came into the room to see what I was laughing about. Now, I have this incredible urge to make muffins.

Muffin Films

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