Cursebird

From the website:

Cursebird is the real-time feed of people swearing on Twitter.

Several months ago I was chatting with an online "former friend" and was encouraged to join Twitter . He was offended when I told him "Thanks, but no thanks" mainly because of the language and that it seems to be for the "younger crowd" and that I didn't care for the immature posters and inane posts. He closed the chat window but not before he had cursed at me and said I was a "behind-the-times old &*^%#*&!". I bet he leads the Cursebird League if he's that thin-skinned and foul-mouthed. He's certainly one of those I was talking about, the "Twits who Twitter".

Sure, I've been known to have a potty-mouth at times, but it's almost always to accentuate my point or to show someone just how angry I am. I'm with the general consensus that excessive swearing is a sign of a limited vocabulary.

DO NOT GO TO THE SITE if you're offended by rude language!!!

I've got some cursing parrot jokes, but will leave them out.

Andy Thomas

Please visit AndyThomas.com to see some fantastic paintings; he specializes in western art, but also has political and civil war art as well.

I'm particularly enamored of his two paintings of past presidents playing poker, both with convention bunting in the background: the True Blues with Democrat presidents such as JFK, FDR, LBJ and even Clinton. His Grand Old Gang painting features Republican presidents Reagan, Bush I and II, Lincoln and even Nixon.

I had seen the Grand Old Gang painting in a forum with the caption "And I told Obama: 'Sir, I know Abe Lincoln and you are no Abe Lincoln!"

The artist was on the Lars Larson radio show tonight and Mr. Larson commented that the original Grand Old Gang painting has been sold, but he noticed the True Blues had not. Mr. Thomas glibly replied that Democrats "normally don't spend money."

Stopwatch

Stopwatch for websites

From the website:

Would you like to know how long it takes to load a webpage? This program will measure the time for you. Enter the URL to be measured and watch the top of the window.

I checked this blog just now and got a bit over 5 1/2 seconds.



However, I cleared the cache and it took a "lot" longer:



I say a "lot" because I've read most people won't wait much more than seven seconds for a site to load. (I'm one of those impatient people) I had the time down to around four seconds because got rid of some of the hosted feeds/stickies in the right-hand column ...but I've added more since, so that's the reason for the higher times.

I'd put in a poll asking folks what modules they think I should delete, but that would just drive up the load time, so....

The Reason I'm Fat

Here a while back I wrote about the spam mails I get from Dr. Suzanne Gudakunst and her obnoxious affiliates telling me in the subject line "The REAL Reason You're Fat".

That's not the reason I'm fat; the website This is why you're fat has many, many reasons I'm fat.

"Where Dreams Become Heart Attacks"

Must Be Inflation

The good news:

This blog is worth more than it used to be.

The bad news:

It's still not worth much.

$564

Maybe I can get a bailout.

WeightMirror

From the website:

Take off up to 50 lbs from your OWN photo in less than 10 seconds!

It is easy, automatic, and COMPLETELY free!

Our patent-pending face recognition technology is based on years of research at Stanford University and the University of Toronto. With one click and in just a few seconds, it automatically detects your body shape and removes up to 50 lbs.

Try out this revolutionary technology now COMPLETELY for FREE!



WeightMirror.com

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I have a carnival funhouse mirror; it doesn't take any weight off of me, but it makes me look goofier than I already am. My non-existent self-esteem can handle it.

I did this to a photo of me, but I don't think it made the pic any lighter.

Online Email Protector

Note: I made the mistake of embedding my email addy into the graphic at the top of the right-hand column and paid for it by having my inbox deluged with spam. Obfuscating an email address using the following method isn't new, but I just didn't do it. -sigh-

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From the website:

Keep your email addresses safe when you post them on the web.

You can use the online email protector to stop people from stealing your email address when you post it online. To use, simply type you email address in the box and then click in either of the textboxes. You can use the simple link code, or the more complicated Javascript link. Either links will effectively mask and cloak your email address from spammers.

The code for my email address looks like this:



(screenshot graphic, because it won't render as all of the code)

Which creates this:
mikeintexas@gmail.com

Online Email Protector

FunPhotoBox

Make fun photos online at FunPhotoBox!

Easy to do; select effect, upload photo, then save to disk or publish to social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Digg, etc.

Use photos of yourself, a friend or family member for some good-natured fun

OR

You can show some contempt, as I have here:






FunPhotoBox

LinkBlip

From the website:

LinkBlip is very simple: it's a way to monitor when someone has clicked a link you sent them. Have you ever sent someone an email and never heard back? If you send them a LinkBlip URL, you'll automatically be notified by email when they click on it.

We'll also tell you what city and state they were in when the clicked the link.

How it works

1. You enter a URL and your email address into the above form.

2. We generate a special URL for you, which you can then email to someone.

3. When someone clicks that special URL, you are notified by email with the time they clicked it as well as the city and state they were in. The recipient of the URL never knows the difference.

LinkBlip

iSerenity

NOTE to visitors: I've noticed quite a few hits on this post and will have to apologize to all who have found the link invalid. I don't have a clue as to why the website no longer exists.

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From the website:

Welcome to iSerenity - ambient sound environments at your desktop for relaxation and solitude. 31 sound and image environments to choose from, and counting.

iSerenity takes you away from your usual desktop setting and delivers you via a variety of sounds and image environments to a tranquil, private and entertaining space. iSerenity offers the capability of a sound machine without the added expense.

I'm not so sure about some of these; a cricket noise makes me nervous, afraid that it will suddenly hop onto my face just as I drift off to sleep. (it's happened!) A hair dryer? I'd be counting the kilowatt hours like sheep as it droned on. The crackling noise of a fire would put me to sleep, but not if it was a fire that was from an overheated hair dryer.

I could probably get to sleep after I threw the typewriter out the window, though.

Visit iSerenity

Lee National Denim Day®

It's quite a while off, but it's never too early to prepare for Lee National Denim Day®

From the website:

How to Plan for Lee National Denim Day®

Coordinating a Denim Day team and contributing to the fight against breast cancer has never been easier or more fun. Here are the five simple steps to hosting Denim Day at your company or with family and friends:

1. Sign Up. When you sign up for Denim Day, you will receive a free participation kit with copier-friendly posters and fact sheets, pink ribbon pins, and more.

2. Promote Your Team. There are a few different ways to get the word out about Denim Day. A good place to start is by customizing the team page that is automatically established for you when you sign up. There you can upload your team’s personal story and fundraising goal, share photos, communicate with your team members and collect donations easily online without envelopes or hassle. We also have a wide variety of downloadable resources online that you can use to motivate your team.

3. Put on Your Jeans. Whether it’s on Oct. 2 or another day of your choosing, don’t forget the best part! Put on your favorite jeans as an act of solidarity in the fight against breast cancer. As a participant, you are welcome to a discount on Lee.com—check your kit for coupons. And visit the Denim Day Shop for your Denim Day apparel, where $5 of every purchase goes to Denim Day.

4. Collect Donations. There are two ways to collect donations. Ask your team members to submit them online from your team page so you can watch as you climb closer to your goal, or you can collect donations from your team members and submit them via cash or check.

5. Celebrate. It is our hope that we will again raise millions for groundbreaking research on Denim Day, and it will be because of your efforts. Pat yourself and your team on the back, and celebrate your contribution in the fight against breast cancer.

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Lee National Denim Day

Free Travel Guides

From the website:

Step 1: Browse over 100 of our top destinations

Step 2: Pick the travel guides you'd like

Step 3: Receive guides free by mail or download

Step 4: No obligation, no strings attached. Go vacation!

One of the best things in life is the promise of something free. The actual best thing in life is when those promised things turn out to actually be free. Our Free Travel Guides of the United States and Canada are just that: Free. 100% no strings attached. There are two ways to get free brochures or travel information. You can click on the map and find a region of the US that appeals to you, or click on one of the 30 plus states linked on the right sidebar. You'll be able to add free travel brochures or free travel guides to your shopping cart from any page.

When planning a trip and wanting the most current up to date travel information, please consider www.TravelGuidesFree.com

Free Travel Guides

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It's just me, I'm sure, but I wonder why the site's name is "Free Travel Guides" and the website URL is www.travelguidesfree.com?

They might be dyslexic and instead of sending you a North Dakota brochure, you get one from South Dakota.

Smart or Stoopid?

Are you smart or stoopid?

Take the test at the aptly titled site smartorstoopid

From the website:

The Smart or Stoopid test is purely meant to be a fun quiz to see how your IQ rates alongside the average, based on the scores of other people who have taken the test. Naturally, only stupid people would take it as a true indicator of intelligence, and only intelligent people would take it as a true indicator of stupidity. Or something like that.

The quiz is on a timer and each multiple choice question comes fast, so be alert! I think I missed a couple (took this test a couple days ago and have slept since then) I saved my score w/ a screen shot, though.

Look at Mike's Big Brain, wouldja?

It's a wrap!

Story at the Pampa News website:

Independent film “Texas and Me” shot near Pampa

Aloft

From NASA's image of the day:

This image, taken through a telescope, is of the newly designed super pressure balloon aloft over Antarctica.

NASA and the National Science Foundation successfully launched the newly designed super pressure balloon prototype that may herald a new era of high-altitude scientific research. The super-pressure balloon ultimately will carry large scientific experiments to the brink of space for 100 days or more.

This seven-million-cubic-foot super-pressure balloon is the largest single-cell, super-pressure, fully-sealed balloon ever flown. When development ends, NASA will have a 22 million-cubic-foot balloon that can carry a one-ton instrument to an altitude of more than 110,000 feet, which is 3-4 times higher than passenger planes fly.

Ultra-long duration missions using the super pressure balloon cost considerably less than a satellite and the scientific instruments flown can be retrieved and launched again, making them ideal very-high altitude research platforms.

The test flight was launched Dec. 28, 2008, from McMurdo Station, the National Science Foundation's logistics hub in Antarctica.

Image Credit:Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility

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This image and many others are freely available to download for non-commercial use and several different sizes are offered as wallpaper.

Free 3-D Glasses

At your local Dollar General.



Was sorting through some stuff a few months ago and ran across a couple of pairs of 3-D glasses almost identical to the one pictured above. A few months before that I was doing the same thing and found another pair! I can't remember when I got them or what was supposed to be viewed through them. Seems as though one was for a movie and the others were for particular magazine issues.

I'm really wondering why I still have them. I probably didn't remember the reason why when I threw them in the box, hoping that the next time I found them I might remember.

I'm also wondering if there's any significance to this post mentioning Dollar General and the previous post mentioning Family Dollar. I go to both local outlets fairly often and will have to remember to get my free 3-D glasses...so I can keep them and then a few years later forget why I have them.

I'll also need to remember which store is which. Thank goodness two of the competing outlets are right next to each other. I'll probably go to the wrong one first, then instead of driving to park at the right store, will forget to look both ways and get run over crossing the street.

The advertisement says "The Big Game Just Got Bigger!" Hmmm.... Usually, 3-D glasses give depth to a printed page or a movie by using a stereo effect, but if these make things look bigger, I will have to try to remember that if I ever get a girlfriend.

'Barack Obama Has Refused to Be a President'

Heads-up from JammieWearingFool about cloned Obama websites with the above title and having been outfitted with a computer virus.

The malicious websites originate from China. Whodathunkit? I thought the Ruskies and other ex-Soviet bloc nations had cornered the market on that sort of thing.

"Jammie" is one of my new favorite blogs I follow and a multiple winner of the famous Weblog Awards

They're not up there in searches for "sister's feet" like this one, though.

Comic Book Advertisements

Top 10 Outrageous Comic Book Advertisements

I remember these very well and recall spending hours looking at these ads, wishing I had $6.95 for the Polaris Nuclear Submarine. (the nuclear sub was born the same year I was!)

I knew not to ask my folks for the money because seven bucks was a FORTUNE back then. I bet, at that time, it was three hours worth of work for my dad, nearly half a day's wages.

I remember the ad (below) very well too, but didn't want one of them because we already had a dog that would fit in a teacup!



I did have a bunch of those green plastic army men, though, bought from the Woolsworth dime store. I brought a few to school to play army with my best friend Joe Bill; we had staked a claim to a secluded corner of the playground, out of the wind and away from the girl's hopscotch sidewalk.

We had a magnifying glass and would put the "death beam" on the German soldiers (which were identical to the US soldiers except we carved a swastika on their helmets). After we ran out of Germans to fry, Joe Bill melted part of one of my bazooka carrying men. I protested, but Jody assured me he was better that way "Now he can shoot around corners!"

My Painting

(click graphic for larger view)

Nah, I didn't paint that; it was a photo I took last year of Ford the Mustang, but I used a new program called FotoSketcher on it.

My IrfanView has a similar feature, but without as many changeable parameters. I also liked the pencil sketches the program is capable of creating. It is extremely easy to use and the learning curve is barely one at all.

The results look cool, and I can't wait to try it on a few other favorite photos I've taken.

Download FotoSketcher

Free Leg Cramps

And a dollar off earaches.

That's what it says:





Some free stuff at the Hyland website.