Halloween Dictionary

From the archives:

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Halloween Dictionary

Bobbing Apples: What happens when you leave your bra off while running.

Boogieman: Guy who passes time at a stoplight picking his nose.

Coffin: What you do when you get a piece of popcorn stuck in your throat.

Frankenstein: Hot dog and a mug of beer.

Full moon: What your repairman reveals when he bends over to fix your fridge.

Goblin: How you eat the Snickers bars you got for Halloween.

Invisible Man: What a guy becomes when there's housework to be done. Also, see "Mr. Hyde."

Jack O' Lantern: An Irish Pumpkin.

Jack the Ripper: What Jack does to his lottery tickets after losing each week.

Mummy: Who kisses the boo-boo after you scrape your knee.

Pumpkin Patch: What a pumpkin wears when trying to quit smoking.

Skeleton: Any supermodel.

Vampire Bat: What Dracula hits a baseball with.

Witch: See "Mother-in-Law."

Zombie: What you look like before that first cup of morning coffee.

Because I'll Have a Buzz On

Your Halloween Costume Should Be A Bumble Bee

Eerily, that fits somehow!

What Should You Be For Halloween?

Blogthings: We're Not Shrinks, But We Play Them On the Internet

Black Magic Woman - Santana

Best Halloween Songs

Too many videos to embed in a single post in here, but some great tunes.

25 Best Halloween Songs of All Time

Unique Pumpkin Carvings

25 Extremely Unique Pumpkin Carvings

My personal favorite:

Find A Grave

Find A Grave

Find the graves of ancestors, create virtual memorials, add 'virtual flowers' and a note to a loved one's grave, etc.  See the graves of thousands of famous people from around the world.

Find A Grave

Spooky - Classics IV

Satan's Baby

One of the funniest Scare Tactics episodes of all-time.

My Imaginary Friend

Here's a photo I took of my imaginary friend.

See? I told you I wasn't crazy.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Today's StartSampling trivia contest question was this:

Who Am I?  Try your luck at this contest! We have provided information about a product character or icon. Can you guess who it is? With his toga-style outfit of leaves, green skin, and impressive stature, it's hard to miss this icon. Who is this icon? Good luck!

Sometimes I have to Google the answer on some of these advertising questions, but not today.  Being a child raised on '60's TV, the answer was easy.



That reminds me of an old joke from my junior high days:

What do you have if you have a big green ball in one hand and another big green ball in the other?

Total control over the Jolly Green Giant.

The Galloping Gourmet

Better than 90% of the Food Network programs on today, The Galloping Gourmet was one of my favorite TV shows when I was growing up.   I'll never forget watching the show right before lunch one summer and my dad coming in from work and growling "What are you watching?"  I told him it was a cooking show and I think he probably wondered what sort of boy he had sired.  It didn't take but a few minutes of watching before he too was laughing at Graham Kerr's funny stories and cooking techniques, both done with frequent gulps from the ubiquitous glass of wine always at hand.

If you've got 20 or so minutes, watch this video;  if you're pressed for time, at least watch the first few minutes to understand why I loved this show and how it was the forerunner of today's cooking shows.  Julia Child had the first well-known cooking show, but Graham Kerr was the best!

Beer and Rump Pot Roast

Big Hits

More than a little annoyed at the end of the Cowboys/Giants game, I got online to try to take my mind off it. I wasn't going to visit any of the rash of doom 'n gloom posts that have hit my reader and were being posted on the Cowboys website and Facebook pages so I decided I'd pop in here and check the stats, see who has been visiting and what they were looking at.

I'd noticed quite a few hits yesterday on my Cast Away posts and the movie must have played on TV and I didn't notice it in the listings. The Feedjit stats showed that, but don't tell the entire story; many people have the Do Not Track extension on their browser so their visits won't show up on it or have some other "stealth" application or add-on. Unless they have Blogger cookies blocked, however, it will show up on the Blogger stats. (and I've previously blocked some of the tracking stuff, but I won't be able to see the top navbar and have to go in via the dashboard to create a post or look at the stats) Looking at the day's stats, I noticed there had been quite an increase in traffic earlier.

As you can see, there was quite a few visitors, relatively speaking, that came to this blog. ("relatively", because ToTG doesn't get all that many visits.  200/day is fairly avg., sometimes more, sometimes less.) I have it set to not track my own page views or the visits would double on the days I have nothing better to do than come in here.

I decided to switch to the "day" mode on the stats and saw this:

90+ visitors in a matter of a few hours. Wow. Wish it would be like that all the time; I would put in some paying ads...which would probably drive the traffic away.  I also wish the Cowboys had put that many hits on Eli Manning.

I'm glad I'm not trying to make a living at this blogging thing.

My Winter is Discontent

I guess this is true, but there's no quiz that shows just how much I hate winter.

Your Winter Personality is Comfortable

When the weather gets cold, you love to settle in and get cozy. There's nothing better than being tucked under a warm blanket. You can't help but be influenced by the world around you, and winter is your time to slow down and relax. You are genuinely nice and a joy to be around. You have a natural serenity that makes others feel calm. You are unpretentious and very real. You find it easy to connect to others just by being yourself.

What's Your Winter Personality?

Blogthings: We Have a Quiz for Almost Everything

Massive Mass

Did you know?

All the planets in our solar system could fit inside Jupiter. The largest planet, composed mostly of gases, has two and a half times the mass of all the other planets combined.

Social Disease - Elton John

Clever homemade video w/ clips of "The Twilight Zone".

Catchy tune and great lyrics w/ probably the best line of any rock song:

"I get juiced on Mateus and just hang loose!"

The Patron Saint of Bachelors

Did You Know?

Canning was invented in 1809 by Nicolas Appert?

His process was moderately successful and adopted by Europe and the United States. The glass containers that were first used proved bulky, costly, and brittle, but the early methods of making cans weren't much better. Sheets of tin were cut with shears, then bent around a block and the seams heavily soldered. A good tinsmith could make only about 60 cans a day.

The industry grew with the 1847 invention of the stamped can. Civil War soldiers were supplied with canned meats and vegetables using this method. A machine for shaping and soldering the cans automatically was exhibited in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

Whoever invented the can opener deserves sainthood, too.

Rare Error

This popped up earlier when I was trying to edit a post; it's very rare to get Blogger errors, one of the first I've had in a long, long time.  Blogger is so much better than MSN Groups, where I quickly learned to copy any post before hitting "send" because sometimes they'd go off into the ozone, never to return.  That's happened only a couple of times here in my blog.

I do get HTML errors in posts, but they have a feature that allows you to ignore it.  It "fixes" any tags not closed for you, though.

I love Blogger, wish I had discovered it earlier. 

Trivia Pays!

I won 50 points in last weeks trivia contest at StartSampling.

Orange juice glad for me?

Puppy Cam

Sad But True

Whoever is happy will make others happy too.     - Anne Frank

acephalous

acephalous a·ceph·a·lous [ey-sef-uh-luhs] adjective

1. Also, a·ce·phal·ic [ey-suh-fal-ik] Zoology headless; lacking a distinct head.
2. without a leader or ruler.

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I'm not an anarchist, but I sometimes wonder if our country would be better off being acephalous.

You Can't Handle The Truth!

Did you know that most of the movie A Few Good Men was written on cocktail napkins? Aaron Sorkin was working as a bartender at the Palace Theater during the 80's. The napkins were free, so Sorkin turned them into mini napkin scripts.

I Like Brown Food

Alton Brown's food, that is.

You Are Good Eats

You are a bit of a food geek, and you see the kitchen as your laboratory.  Food fascinates you, especially food science. You enjoy testing out new recipes and cooking techniques. It's not enough for you to know that something works... you have to know why it works. You are a huge goofball and have a silly sense of humor. You like to play around in the kitchen.

What Cooking Show Are You?

Badlands

Loosely based upon the Starkweather-Fugate multi-state killing spree in 1958, Badlands was the first major role for both stars, Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. The movie is compelling in a low-key, non-sensationalist way, so different than today's similar films.



Other than the superb acting and the outstanding cinematography, the most memorable thing about the film - for me, at least - is the soundtrack. Carl Orff's Musica Poetica manages to capture the whimsical mood of the killers as they committed their horrific crimes and yet at the same time is strangely uplifting.

Seeing Clearly

It is not what you look at that matters. It is what you see.     - Henry David Thoreau

recusant

recusant rec·u·sant [rek-yuh-zuhnt, ri-kyoo-zuhnt] adjective

1. refusing to submit, comply, etc.
2. obstinate in refusal.

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That pretty much describes me.

One Hump or Two?

Did you know that when he was Secretary of War (prior to the Civil War), Jefferson Davis imported camels for the Army to ride?  In 1856, Davis purchased 34 camels at a cost of $30,000 to be used in remote military outposts. The animals proved to be unpopular and not nearly as easy to train as were horses (plus they spooked the horses), so the experiment was abandoned.

More information: U.S. Camel Corps

assoil

From the ToTG Word of the Day module in the right-hand column.

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assoil as·soil [uh-soil] verb (used with object) Archaic 
1. to absolve; acquit; pardon.
2. to atone for.

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It's probably a good thing some words are archaic and have fallen into disuse.

Just The Way It Is - The Rembrandts

State Fair

A tribute to the Texas State Fair, closing today.

In my procrastinating way, it's apt that I post the opening of the movie on the day the fair is ending.



I remember seeing this movie at the "pitcher show" with my sisters. (we probably sat through it twice) I also remember it being the first time I was ever excited over a woman - Ann Margaret.

She still excites me.

Big Tex Vex

vex [veks]
verb (used with object)
1. to irritate; annoy; provoke: His noisy neighbors often vexed him.
2. to torment; trouble; distress; plague; worry: Lack of money vexes many.
3. to discuss or debate (a subject, question, etc.) with vigor or at great length: to vex a question endlessly without agreeing.
4. to disturb by motion; stir up; toss about.
5. to afflict with physical pain.

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If you're from Texas, you've most likely heard that Big Tex was destroyed by fire the other day. There were quite a few postings about it on Facebook, most lamenting the fire, but there were also some snarky comments.

(most comparing the accident to the ubiquitous fried food served on the midway, some saying it was torched like the Texas defense had been by Oklahoma in last week's annual Cotton Bowl game.  My own favorite was that Big Tex had been sleeping with the Statue of Liberty and she forgot to put her torch out before coming to bed.)

That's OK; even though it was a State Fair icon, I suppose there could be some humor found in the accident. (I'll admit that the photo above is a little funny, what with half of Big Tex's clothes burned away and the cowboy hat being nothing but fire, the goofy fiberglass face framed by the flames) After all, no one was injured and the structure will be repaired in plenty of time for next year's fair. The Amarillo TV station KFDA linked to a story on their website from their Facebook page and there were only a few comments, but one annoyed me to no end...it "vexed" me.

Here's the comment, just as it was written:

i know its been their forever, and so forth,its cost tax payers thousands & thousands of dollars maintaining,painting it,when theirs people living in the streets in down town Dallas & every magor city in this country !! children lay in filth and going to bed hungry !!!! but lest fix a damn 52 ' statchu and start a memoraul for the damn thang,hungry kids living under a bridge will alwas be around !! 

I shouldn't get so angry but the sheer stupidity of the post made me want to write a scathing reply...but I didn't. I understand that I shouldn't get so upset over a comment plus I really don't need to be slamming someone on Facebook, creating drama that could be avoided, but I can't let it go. (It's MY blog and I can rant all I like) Here's what I WOULD have said if I did reply to the ignoramus:

Yes, such a waste. Never mind that it was a main attraction at one of the most successful annual events in Texas and with all things considered, it at least probably paid for itself several times over in good will. The structure didn't cost that much to build and the maintenance costs couldn't have been that much, either. I believe Big Tex's clothes are made and donated by Dickies in exchange for the free advertising. (and for the "bragging rights", always important here in Texas) I expect the annual cleaning bill for the clothing - something like $350 -  was most likely the largest expenditure. 

Instead, we get you whining about it, priceless! Why don't you give up your internet and sell your computer and donate the money to "hungry kids living under a bridge"? I bet you don't even donate a nickel to causes that help the homeless. Good Grief. 

I know one thing: the money spent educating you was a waste. The State Fair should put you on exhibit as a prime example of functional illiteracy.

Cheers Ya'll

You Are 45% British

You're about as British as a half hearted Anglophile... in other words, a p*ss poor Brit. If you are indeed from Britain, you probably consider yourself a European more than anything else. If you're trying to pass for a Brit, you're going to have to try a little harder. Go to a football match. Drink until you puke. And head in to work the next morning totally hungover.

How British Are You?

Canned

Fredric Baur, the man who designed the Pringles can, was cremated and some of his ashes were buried in one of his patented containers.

Startpage

Are you concerned about your privacy using Google? If so, use the Startpage^TM search engine, the new private way to search Google.

From the website:

Startpage offers you Web search results from Google in complete privacy!

When you search with Startpage, we remove all identifying information from your query and submit it anonymously to Google ourselves. We get the results and return them to you in total privacy.

Your IP address is never recorded, your visit is not logged, and no tracking cookies are placed on your browser. When it comes to protecting your privacy, Startpage runs the tightest ship on the Internet. Our outstanding privacy policy and thoughtful engineering give you great search results in total anonymity. Here are some of our key features:

•     No IP address recorded.
•     No record is made of your searches.
•     No identifying or tracking cookies used.
•     Powerful SSL encryption available.
•     Free proxy surfing available.
•     Praised by privacy experts worldwide.
•     Twelve-year company track record.
•     Third-party certified.
  
  

Startpage^TM

Ransom Note

Make your own ransom notes.

NFL Anthems

Download all the Pepsi NFL Anthems


Guess which one I downloaded!

Game Of Love - The Mindbenders

Verbal Phobia

hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

The fear of long words.

A Woman’s Poem

From the archives:

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He didn’t like the casserole, and he didn’t like my cake
He said my biscuits were too hard, not like his mother used to make
I didn’t perk the coffee right, and he didn’t like the stew
I didn’t mend his socks, the way his mother used to do
I pondered for an answer, I was looking for a clue
Then I turned around and smacked the crap out of him
Just like his mother used to do.

My Facebook Profile

You Are Shy in Real Life

You are modern and up on the latest trends. You resist getting stuck in a rut. You have mixed feelings about yourself. Sometimes you love who you are, and sometimes there's so much you want to change. You are very verbally adept. You love to talk, even if no one else is listening. You consider yourself a bit of a paranoid person. You aren't going to put a lot of personal information out there online.

What Does Your Facebook Profile Say About You?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

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Sometimes these quizzes are funny because they're so wrong, but other times they're almost scary when they're spot-on.

I don't know about the validity of the other stuff, but I AM paranoid, especially about my online security.

You're really not paranoid if there ARE people out to get you, you know.

Giveaway of the Day

One of my favorite sites; I am subscribed to the feed as so to not miss a chance on some great, free software.

Granted, not all of the freebies will appeal to you or be something you would want, but I have snagged some nifty and useful programs from the site.

The one major "catch" is that you must download and activate the program on the day that it's offered.  Also, some of the programs don't offer any support.  Still, the price is right!

Here's a ticker to put on blogs and websites showing the day's offering.



Giveaway of the Day

Tiny Dancer - Elton John

Ear Ear!

Did you know?

There are 32 muscles in a cat's ear, compared to a human's 6 muscles each. A cat can rotate its ears independently 180 degrees, and turn in the direction of sound 10 times faster than those of the best watchdog.

Generally Speaking

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.
 - George S. Patton 

Image courtesy of

mucro

mucro mu·cro [myoo-kroh] noun, plural mu·cro·nes  [myoo-kroh-neez]
Botany, Zoology
a short point projecting abruptly, as at the end of a leaf.

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I've seen a lot of people posting in forums who must have a mucro on top of their heads.

Toilet Talk

From the archives:

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I was barely sitting down when I heard a voice from the other stall saying “Hi, how are you?”

I am not the type to start a conversation in the men’s restroom but I don’t know what got into me, so I answered, somewhat embarrassed, “Doing just fine!”

And the other guy says “So what are you up to?”

What kind of question is that?  At that point, I am just trying to get out as fast as I can when I hear another question, “Can I come over?”

Ok, this question is just too weird for me but i figured I could just be polite and end the conversation. I tell him, “No… I am little busy right now!!!”

Then I hear the guy say nervously:

“Listen, I will have to call you back. There’s an idiot in the other stall who keeps answering all my questions!!!

If You Want Blood - AC/DC

(You've Got It)



Note: noticed the video had been taken down, so it was replaced with this version. Not as good, sorry 'bout that.

crasis

crasis cra·sis [krey-sis] noun,
plural cra·ses  [-seez] Archaic .

composition; constitution; makeup.

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Some people have crass, crazy & creepy crasis.

Over Easy, Please

And keep the coffee coming, thanks!

You Are a Hearty Breakfast

You are down to earth and mild mannered. You don't tend to make a fuss. You can be a bit stubborn at times. You know what you like, and you don't tend to change your mind. You like to stay in your comfort zone. You don't really like surprises or change much. You aren't complacent... you're just practical. Why mess with what works?

The Breakfast Test

Blogthings: We're Not Shrinks, But We Play Them On the Internet

Halley's Comet Debris

I'm looking forward to Oct. 21st and the Orionid Meteor Shower.

Atari Arcade

Remember Atari?















Celebrate Atari's 4th Anniversary and play Asteroids, Centipede, Lunar Lander, Missile Command, Pong and others at the Atari Arcade.

Atari Arcade

REQUEST

From the spam folder:

alhajishettimamohammedbulama1@yahoo.com.ph

REQUEST

to undisclosed recipients

My name is Alhaji Shettima Mohammed Bulama, the est. managing director of the Bank of the North Nig.Plc. I am contacting you in a benevolent spirit; and with utmost confidence and trust to enable us provide a solution to a money transfer of $18 Million to your account. Do get back to me for more details.

Best Regards,
Alhaji Shettima Mohammed Bulama.

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"benevolent spirit"??? I'd say that's about right, especially seeing as how there's not a ghost of a chance of anyone getting a dime of that $18 million.

Evil Woman - ELO

Spittin' Mad

Did you know the horned lizard (or "horny toad") defends itself by squirting blood from its eyes?



We've got some horny toad posts. (with pictures, if you don't like to read!)

anacoluthon

anacoluthon \an-uh-kuh-LOO-thon\ , noun:

1. A construction involving a break in grammatical sequence, as It makes me so—I just get angry.

2. An instance of anacoluthia.

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I'd like to take the spammers who hit this blog every now and then and cut their - off and then feed the  - to the - hogs.

The Weight - The Band

Dedicated to myself, because I just got a big load off my mind and back.

catachresis

catachresis cat·a·chre·sis [kat-uh-kree-sis]

noun

misuse or strained use of words, as in a mixed metaphor, occurring either in error or for rhetorical effect.

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I don't understand why people mix their metaphors.

I mean...it's not exactly rocket surgery, is it?

Let 'er Rip!

From the archives.

Yakety Yak

You Love to Talk About Current Events

You are an admitted news and political junkie. You pride yourself on knowing what's going on in the world. You prefer to talk with people who are equally up on current events. You think there are a lot of important things to discuss. You get bored easily, and you prefer to always be discussing new things with your friends. You feel like it's easy to get in a conversation rut. You are the type most likely to bring up new and interesting topics of conversation. You always have something fascinating to talk about.

What Do You Love to Talk About?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

Yakety Yak - The Coasters

A Big Difference

Here lately my spam folder has been deluged with more of what I call "wanna hook up?" scam emails.  I've been deleting them because they're basically all the same and don't have photos with them as have the others I've posted here on my blog.  It's a lot easier to poke fun at them when there's a (fake) face behind the (fake) name.

That said, I happened to open this one up instead of deleting it; here's what it said:

Simona Viola fwuinbhcpr@wellfs.com

Meow honey,

I saw your photo in the social network and realized that we live in the same town.

How about spending a couple of hot weekends together and having fun without any needless questions? ;-)

(URL removed)

With kisses,
Simona Viola
-----------------
Simona Viola have sent you this message via Private Network.

If you would like to stop receiving notifications from our members,please go here.
(URL removed)

All unsubscribe requests are handled promptly.

or write to:

233Main Street #234
Isla-Colon
Bocasdel-Toro, Republic of Panama

I'm not going to write her back, but if I did it would be something like this:

Dear Simona,

In the first place, I don't belong to any social networks besides Facebook and Twitter...and I don't even check my Twitter account.

What's up with the "meow honey" salutation?  I like cats, but if I'm scratched by one around here, I can always put a little alcohol on the wound.  You'd probably give me something penicillin couldn't cure.  Is that supposed to be some sort of veiled reference to what you're offering me?   I guess so, what with wanting to spend a "couple of hot weekends together".  There'd have to be a question or two I'm sure, such as "How much do you charge?" and "Did you see my specially made condom I brought?  You know, the one made from a truck tire inner tube."

Also, the last I checked, the town I lived in was in the Panhandle of Texas, not in Central America.   Panama, huh?  I thought ships entered the canal, not you.

Sorry, Simona, I think I'll have to pass.  I might be stupid when sizing up women, but I know Shinola from Viola.

Potent Patriotic Potables

Did you know the music for The Star-Spangled Banner was originally used for a British drinking song? The song combines Francis Scott Key's poem "Defense of Fort McHenry" and the tune "To Anacreon in Heaven".

 

Gog Bless Us All

This was one of the replies to a post on Facebook about a neighbor's condition;  she recently had heart surgery and was in critical condition, with her kidneys not functioning.   I was glad to see that she's doing much better, but I had to laugh when I saw this.

(I cropped out the poster's name and photo)

I think I would have deleted the post and posted again or at least used the "Edit" feature. Oh well, her heart was in the right place and her sentiments were good, if not her spelling.

hirtellous

hirtellous hir·tel·lous [hur-tel-uhs]

adjective

minutely hirsute.

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"minutely hirsute". That describes me, to a "T".  I don't have a lot of hair on my head or anywhere else, for that matter.  I saw a gray hair on my chest the other day and pulled it out...and diminished my chest hair by a third when I did.

I may start using 'hirtellous" as a nickname in forums.

Heavy Metal

Did you know "heavy metal" was once used exclusively by the military to indicate something that was heavily fortified by tanks and guns? In 1968, a journalist for Cream magazine used this expression to describe a performance of the band MC5 from Detroit. Soon the same magazine was using the term for many other bands of that era, and it caught on in the broader community.

List of heavy metal bands

I could post any video from any band on that list, but why not use a tune that's ABOUT heavy metal?

Heavy Metal - Sammy Hagar

agita

agita \AJ-i-tuh\ , noun:

1. Agitation; anxiety.
2. Heartburn; indigestion.

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Nothing a glass of bicarb wouldn't cure...with a Xanax dissolved into it.

Add a little tequila to it and you'd have an Agitarita.

Days The Duke Died

Did you know?

John Wayne died in eight of his films:













Reap the Wild Wind, The Fighting Seabees, Wake of the Red Witch, Sands of Iwo Jima, The Alamo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Cowboys and The Shootist.

Clipart courtesy of Caricature Zone

Right On!

I love the smell of incense in the morning.

You are a Hippie

You are a total hippie. While you may not wear Birkenstocks or smell of incense, you have the soul of a hippie. You don't trust authority, and you do as you please. You're willing to take a stand, even when what you believe isn't popular. You like to experiment with ideas, lifestyles, and different subcultures. You always gravitate toward what's radical and subversive. Normal, mainstream culture doesn't really resonate with you.

Are You a Hippie?

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

groovy

groovy adjective \ˈgrü-vē\

1. marvelous, wonderful, excellent

2. hip, trendy

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I thought several posts about "groovy" would be...

Feeling Groovy - Simon & Garfunkel

A Groovy Kind Of Love -The Mindbenders

World Human Population

Candidate Match Game

Candidate Match Game II

Play USA TODAY's Candidate Match Game II to find out which candidate -- Barack Obama or Mitt Romney -- you agree with most on the key issues of the day. And as you take the quiz, learn more about their positions on the issues.



As you select your answers, the graphic slides more to the candidate whose views are most like your own. As I answered the questions, I was surprised to see the percentage ebb and flow from one candidate to the other. In the end, however, my score was 76% in favor of Romney.

Still, I thought that the real outcome of the test should have been the likenesses morphing into a single image. That's what politics has become, after all...two sides of the same coin:  a plugged nickel.

Candidate Match Game II

No More of That

Since the NFL regular season started, I was predicting the winners each week and except for last week, was doing fairly well.  I've decided to discontinue it. 

Why? Well, it wasn't creating much interest.  I understand I don't have a lot of visitors to this blog and I'm fine w/ that, but I did hope that I'd get a few hits/comments on the posts.   That's not the main reason, though.

After last night's debacle - the Dallas/Chicago game - my heart's not in it.  I'll always be a Cowboys fan, but I never have enjoyed watching the games when Dallas played poorly.  I turned the channel shortly after the second half started and then drifted off to sleep.  I refuse to let how a football team does affect my life...and esp. my sleep.

I'm also done with frequenting the Cowboy websites and reading the comments.  I'm sick of the constant criticisms from people who know little or nothing about the game.  I'm tired of reading comments such as "Fire Garrett!" "Romo needs to go!" "Jerry Jones knows nothing about football!"

In the first place, Garrett is a good coach but to expect him to be mistake-free is short-sighted and an ignorant way of thinking.   I like his "RKG" approach and think he needs another couple of years to put his stamp on the team.  If he hasn't taken the team to the playoffs in five years at the helm, then perhaps he should be let go, but not until then.  People have no patience and expect wins right away.  That's not realistic.

People also show their lack of knowledge about football in blaming Romo for the losses.  Last time I checked, there were ten other players on the offensive side of the ball, plus a defense that has blown some of the leads the offense and Romo had in games.  Sure, he's made some egregious errors, but I bet there are a dozen NFL teams which would love to have Tony Romo as their QB. 

Lastly, I get angry at Jones too, but it IS his team and with his two + decades of owning the team, he has to have soaked up some football smarts via osmosis if in no other way.  In fact, I imagine he's probably forgotten more about football than most of the whiny pukes on msg. boards will ever know.   JJ's worst fault is being too loyal to certain players as well as handing out overpriced contracts to under-performing athletes.

Moneytalks - AC/DC

The True Me

Yeah, right.

The True You Values Harmony

You want your girlfriend or boyfriend to be more relaxed, calm, and composed. With respect to money, you spend as little as possible. You think good luck doesn't exist - reality is built on practicalities. The hidden side of your personality tends to be satisfied to care for things with a minimal amount of effort. You have a tendency to overdo things, but basically you value your friendships highly. When it comes to finding a romantic partner, you base your search on information from your friends.

Who's The True You?

Blogthings: We're Not Shrinks, But We Play Them On the Internet

Not a Big Star

Note: I've decided to name each post in the "Did You Know?" series differently. I got to thinking that it would be hard to differentiate between all the posts named "Did You Know?"

Duh.  Too bad I didn't know that from the first.

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Did you know?

Tom Hanks has an asteroid named after him?












Hanks has had a lifelong fascination with space exploration: As a child, he wanted to be an astronaut; he played a real-life one in Apollo 13; he co-produced the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, as well as the IMAX feature Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon in 3D. Heck, he's even on the the National Space Society Board of Directors. So to honor Hanks' commitment, the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid "12818 tomhanks" in 1996.

Image courtesy of Caricature Zone

October Trivia Quiz Begins!

New trivia tournament begins!

Play the ToTG Trivia Tournament and test your trivia knowledge against the smartest readers of this blog!

(well, there's me, too)





Easy to do: register, then sign-in and play the quiz. The categories change from day-to-day and are the most difficult the site has to offer.  Hurry as fast as you can through it, though, because the longer you take, the less points you get on the total.

ToTG Trivia Tournament