H1N1, Where We Were Standing When We Heard

This is a photo I took to show the view from where we were standing when we heard the news that cases of the h1n1 Virus were found a few miles away.

The waiting room was an international petri dish.

It reflected in many ways, in modern dress, the crowds who once occupied Ellis Island, visible from where we stood.

They too were a petri dish, with public health officials waiting to shove tongue depressors into their throats.

No tongue depressors here.

The ferry upon which we sailed to Staten Island was fairly full.

They don't allow you to stay on board for the ride back. You need to leave and re-enter the terminal, so, it deposited us ashore directing us back around into Richmond County's St. George Terminal.

Just as we were settled back onto the same boat, with good perches for the photographers, we were told they were taking the boat out of service.

It was one more walk around where we joined the people gathered to take the next ferry. That’s when I took this snap. When the next ferry arrived from Manhattan, it spit out its human cargo, 2/3’s of which promptly walked around back into the terminal to join us.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

What should have been a pleasant sail across Upper New York Harbor, with promised views of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and the churches of Brooklyn, turned into a dash for seats in the middle.

It was like riding on a wide body jet, in the center aisle.

When we spewed forth from the boat, I don’t know how many thousands of us, the crowd soon blended into the mass of tourists visiting lower Manhattan on this first really nice day of 2009.

If that many people suddenly showed up in our home town, it would be an event. Here they do it every half hour without a blip of notice.

LiveJournal Tags: Stane Island Ferry,Crowd,H1N1

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Windows Live Writer – Coming of Age

If you do a little more on the internet than update your facebook and Twitter, one of the best websites on the internet is Makeuseof.com.

It has many entries regarding Windows Live Writer.  In January of this year, they did the rare thing in recommending WLW,  a MS product. In truth I would say they go to great lengths to find products alternative to the MS software.  We have absolutely no problem with that.

It makes writing for a blog as simple as writing a document.  With add-on such as Zemanta, Cross Post, Digg This, Picasa, Amazon Quick Link, and many more, it saves a lot of legwork when designing the blog entry.

Sometimes the add-on that recommends links has it’s own quirks.  When I wrote “WLW” for Windows Live Writer, it created a link to Google Maps showing what appears to be the tower for a radio station in…  Cincinnati.  So, don’t just blindly accept the links it throws you.  Most of them have been fine, but still, it is posting the link on your blog.

Technorati Tags: Live Writer,Writer,Twitter,Makeuseof.com,Zemanta,Cross-Post,Digg,Picasa,Amazon,Quick,links,Google,radio,Cincinnati,quirks,internet,blog

Windows Live Tags: Live Writer,Writer,Twitter,Makeuseof.com,Zemanta,Cross-Post,Digg,Picasa,Amazon,Quick,links,Google,radio,Cincinnati,quirks,internet,blog

American Gods: A Novel By Neil Gaiman

Just a Few Comments

Image by sgtret via Flickr

We came home from work yesterday expecting to watch the CSI episode about the Star Trek-like convention with its murder and the ongoing story of the lab non-romance.

We fired up the old rear projection TV that refuses to die.  We clicked on the TiVo menu and started to play what we thought would be the show.  Instead, for the first twenty minutes or so, the cable company’s pay for view menu scrolled by. 

For no apparent reason, the channel switched back to CSI.  (I think it’s our neighbor’s automatic sprinkler, but that’s another story.)

Without a blink my wife and I said, Okay, we’ll each watch the first twenty minutes on Hulu, and then return to the big screen to watch the rest.  It’s the “without a blink…” part that has me thinking this morning.  No more, Gee Whizz, no more, Wow! We can do that???

It’s become commonplace.

Aside from that, here are two interesting  lists I found floating around on FeedDemon this morning:

Listverse: The first is 10 Christ-like Figures who Pre-Date Christ.

and

Lifehacker – Top Money-Saving Guides for Common Purchases.
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LiveJournal Tags: Lists

A Lot of Stuff About Dreams

Image by sgtret via Flickr

On Facebook and elsewhere on the web there seems to be a lot of “stuff” about dreams of the future. That and the phrase “Considering The Economy…”

I feel as if it might be a good time to resurrect Busby Berkeley and Frank Capra .  The tune to Happy Days are Here Again is ringing in my ears.

My mother was a flapper. My father a man about town. 

They never called themselves children of The Depression.

Depression is a clinical state of mind.  It never caught on with them and then, poof!  World War II and suddenly, or so it appeared, it was gone.

Another phrase: “Nothing will ever be the same…” is used when I think they really mean, nothing will like the imagined state of credit supported happiness that sustained us for more than a decade.

Will the job “Laborer” creep back into the American Culture.  If you browse the Shorpy’s website, you will see photos from just after the civil war into the first third of the last century.  You will see the faces of families where every member, from young children on up, went to the factory each day. 

Look at their faces, their lean faces.  These are not happy people.  But these are people with a dream, a dream for us, the coming generations.  Why do I feel as if we let them down?

I will keep my dream of the future limited to waking the next day and being able to get out of bed.  It’s a start.

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LiveJournal Tags: Dreams

We’ve Been Away Too Long

Image by Dystopos via Flickr

During a different lifetime, I think I am up to my fourth, we lived in the middle of all the action in Manhattan.

It’s not where I started but still I feel its from where I am.

That being said, I was sad to discover just now, reading The New Yorker’s RSS Feed, I found none of this week’s cartoons funny.

Not one.

What this means to me is we’ve been away too long.  The Billy Joel song, New York State of Mind is buzzing in my subconscious.  “The New York Times, The Daily NEWS.”

As with most thing, this too will pass.

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LiveJournal Tags: The New Yorker

This Amazon Link Thing

I have been sitting on this Amazon.com link thing since it started.

If you troll back through the almost five years of blogs created here you will see many book links.  I only posted them when I thought the book worthy of recommendation.

Lately, I’ve been using Amazon more for groceries and music.  It never occurred to me to post links to that.  But then Amazon.com sent me a link to their discount pages, 15, 25 even 50% off items I have already been ordering from their subscribe page.

http://tr.im/AmGroc contains a link that takes you to their discount grocery sale.  It ends April 29th.

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LiveJournal Tags: Groceries

We’re Trying Cross Posting

Using Windows Live Writer, and its plug-in Cross Pollinator, http://tr.im/XPol – we should be able to post this to the other Famous Grazing blogs.

The instructions were found at http://tinyurl.com/c4sh5n.
Simpler instructions can be found at http://tinyurl.com/dlgn6a

For the first attempt at single cross posting, we will leave out graphics and confine the posting to linked content.

UPDATE: The first attempt didn’t work.  The xPollinate Add-on is not appearing in our list.  We’re now trying WLW Cross-Post Plug in.  Its icon did appear in the Add-on list.

A note dated 4/2/09 at the bottom of the CodePlex page states that xPollinator is not appearing in some versions of LiveWriter.  We’re using Build 14.0.8050.1202 en, according to MS, the latest update.

Because this add-on would be of great use to us, we’re going to keep coming back to it.

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LiveJournal Tags: Cross-blogging

April Sure Looks Like March

Image by ...-Wink-... via Flickr

You won't see anything resemling this cactus flower anywhere in the wild around here.

The good news we missed the April Fools Blizzard again. I still kept the shovels and salt out on the front porch until April second.

To get over the Winter Blues I absolutely guarantee you will be emotionally moved by the music conducted by Gustavo Dudamel http://tr.im/GDudamel for TED. Tingles the spine.

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A Day of TweetDeck Discoveries

Here I was minding my own business, with TweetDeck  moving right along on our second screen when I noticed a Tweet from @MariSmith full of Exclamation points drift by in the Friends column.

I stopped what I was doing to read the tweet.  It said she had just used TweetDeck’s new Facebook interface to read both and post to both directly from TweetDeck’s columns.

This might be enough for me to make a quick blog entry.  In the RT, re-tweeting of various messages found in the #TweetDeck feed, I noticed one stating there was a web page where all the answer regarding this wonderful social networking tool.  I clicked the link, to be brought to Richard Barley’s wonderfully created page.

After eagerly reading all of it, and learning just enough to make me dangerous on TweetDeck, I RT’s and mentioned it on Facebook.  Then I remembered: “We have a blog!” and decided to expand my remarks.

If you read Twitter, TweetDeck  is the place to go to get the tool you need to make the most of it.

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LiveJournal Tags: TweetDeck,Facebook

Reflection on The Media

Image by luc legay via Flickr

When we started creating Famous Grazing Blogs in 2004, it was the method of communication, the media, which captured out imagination.

We explored and tried every online and off line method for blog creation. Most of the blogs we created still linger out there, occasionally thrown scraps using LiveWriter. 

Blogs were the method used by those who found in it a way to express their thoughts of the moment. 

Then came social micro-blogging.  MySpace, FriendFeed, Friendster and more recently Facebook and Twitter.

TinyPaste is a site Twitterites can use for the Continued spill over of the tweets.

Like moths to flames, as mentioned in the #moleskine line on Twitter, we were drawn away from the blog medium to the instant satisfaction, the crayon on the wall, expression offered by microblogs,

Then we are put to shame by our friend Deven.  He throws up Education on the Plate on the WP site and starts to write professionally, thoughtfully.  The microblog has replaced the comments portion of the blog, but he is using the extended palette blogging allows to fully express himself.

Perhaps his creation will inspire us to make better use of the blogs.  I know more likely it will be like the YMCA tag I have on my key ring.  I’ll know it’s there, but I always seem to be elsewhere.  “ooh, shiny thing..”
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LiveJournal Tags: blog writing

Everything Explained in Plain English - Tekzilla Daily Tip

LiveJournal Tags: FeedDemon

Image via Wikipedia

The easy way to explain social networking, technology and almost everything else to your parents! Everything Explained in Plain English - Tekzilla Daily Tip

This page was created using the FeedDemon option of posting an RSS Feed page.

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I Can't Believe It!!

Moments after I posted a remark about there being no snow on the ground, I looked up to see it is SNOWING!!!!
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No Snow on the Ground

This has been some winter.  As the sun rose this morning, I glanced out into the woods and noticed for the first time in months, there is no snow on the ground.  It has been surviving in the darker spots where the density of evergreens keep the wooded floor in the shade. 

That may sound rather minor, especially to our friends in Canada, but when we moved here a decade or two ago, the nearest kin said, and I quote exactly,  "It hardly snows here.  When it does, it doesn't stick."  Of course, the winter following that statement produced one of the nastiest blizzards in history.  True to form, I must say, when the results of the blizzard passed, the rest of the winter was mild.

This winter was different.  There were no major blizzards.  A nasty storm or two, but nothing that really shut us down.  It was the number of storms, followed by bitter-bitter cold that helped preserve the snow on the ground.

This doesn't mean it won't snow again before Spring takes hold.  We had an April Fools Day blizzard not that many years ago.  The winds from that took down the entire eastern fence. I am not tempting nature.  Just commenting on the snapshot my eyes took with the rising sun.

Happy March!!

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Shared Items From Google Reader

There is a "sort of" blog generated when you share RSS Feeds  scanned with Google Reader.

Each time I see something I may want to read in detail later, I mark it with a star.
When I see an item that may be of value to others with interests similar to mine, I set it to share.

This is easy with Google Reader.  Click on S for star and Shift-S for share.

The blog our sharing generates can be found at http://tr.im/sgtret

This will take you to:

 SGTRET'S SHARED ITEMS

 Some of the most recent shared items are

How to Edit a PDF File from eHow,
Do You Own Your Email, from PCMech,
Sprint BlackBerry 8830 Gets Official OS Update from RIMarkable

and my latest favorite, Hello World!, an opening blog entry from Twitter/spedteacher's Education On The Plate.

Anyone who uses Google Reader can produce a quick blog demonstrating their interests as well.

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Plasmalamp Posterous Link Test

via commons.wikimedia.org

We just made some administrative changes on the Grazing blog hosted by Posterous.com. This is a combined test of the continued links and the Posterous Bookmark in Firefox.
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Posted via web from grazing's posterous

Testing The Posterous Bookmark Button

via commons.wikimedia.org

We just dragged the Post it on Posterous book mark to our Chrome Bookmark bar. To test it we went to Wikimedia and found a nice tray of muffins to share with the world.
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Posted via web from grazing's posterous

The Oscars

We just watched a Colbert Report from a few days ago.  

Using his completley nonsensical methodolgy he predicted every major Oscar.  The second choice he made when he first predicted Sean Penn did not take away his first choice being right.  

What makes this close to interesting is his doing exactly the same thing last year.  One hundred per cent correct.  

It will achieve truly interesting status if he does it ten years in a row. That would require first that Comedy Central still exists in eight years and his show is still playing on it.

Considering how disposable is fame, even more so when the source of fame is contemporary comment, the odds are not in our favor.  

The standards must be lowered.

We will declare it truly interesting if he does again one more year.  That's possible.  

Will the Vegas & London bookies agree?
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Guys & Dolls with Oliver Platt

Though it is Oliver Platt's name that draws you into the theater, it is Lauren Graham and Tituss Burgess's performances as Adelaide and Nicely-Nicely Johnson you remember when you leave.

We watched the February 19th Matinée performance of Guys & Dolls at the Nederlander Theater on Forty First Street.

With the exception of Steve Rosen, all of the members of the ensemble fit the Damon Runyon mold.  Rosen's tropical hat was the only out of place item on the stage.  The remainder of the production ran like clockwork; down to the placement of the chairs by the members of the cast in rhythm with the music. The revolving entrances, the door to the mission as well as the revolving door to everywhere else were very clever devises. 

I am normally against the use of video during a stage play, but its use as an enhancement to scenery is very well done.  The plane to and from Cuba and the occasional passing of an El train, instead of being a distraction, is accepted as part of the show.

The insertion of Damon Runyon himself is a cute addition in the beginning, but he and his lit cigarette, became a bit much toward the end.  This is commented on by Kate Jennings Grant's Sarah Brown character to the agreement of the audience.

The multiple parts played by each of the ensemble players, from shoeshine boy, to garage owner/police officer and everything in between was a marvel to watch.

Let us not forget the Hot Box Girls.  Hoo boy, they were fun to watch, with Lauren Graham extremely hot in each of their musical numbers.  Her smile won the audience over quickly.

The major players, Oliver Platt as Nathan Detroit, Craig Bierko as Sky Masterson and Kate Jennings Grant as Sister Sarah did their jobs well enough, but Miss Graham and the rest of the cast carry the show.  Jim Ortlieb and Mary Testa as the Grandfather and General both have their moments on stage, filling out the musical numbers so that each of them were memorable.

This is petty, I know, but the automatic umbrella used by Craig Bierko as he walks up onto the stage annoyed the historian in me.

The greatest disappointment was lack of an original cast CD.  I want one as soon as it is produced.
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A Flashing-Blinking Curious Sunday Morning

In the normally sylvan surroundings we call home, it was a tad startling to find our bedroom curtains a show of blue, red and white lights mixing with the morning sun.

A glance down the driveway found a fire truck and two police cars parked by our mail box.  The police were in conversation with a white coated man who had his arms out to his side parallel to the road.

An ambulance quietly pulled up behind the fire truck.  The police, after putting his hands over the roof and patting him down, urged the man into the ambulance’s side door.  After a short conversation, one officer went into the ambulance and closed the door behind him.

First the ambulance left, then one police car.  I was almost curious enough to go down and ask for the details, but not enough.  I know I’ll read about it in next weeks local paper.

Not a normal Sunday wake up  in these sylvan surroundings.
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LiveJournal Tags: Police Activity

Privacy Problem with Twitter DM

Another twitterite sent me a message thanking me for an invite code to an alpha test. This is a code that was sent to me by the developer for my personal use.

I did not make that code public.  In fact, that person's using the code caused it to die for me.  Not their fault at all. It was The System.

After much examination with that person's cooperation, I was able to determine that all of my DM's, Direct Messages, on Twitter were now open on my public timeline. 

This goes against the private guarantee of Twitter's DM's

What this tells me is the system is way from perfect.  It tells me that no personal information should EVER be entrusted to a Twitter message of any kind. 

I had to go in and manually remove all of the DM's in my account. 

The ones that were important, I copied into Evernote's file on my hard drive. 

If they go public, I will lose all faith in anything on the internet, including email, being safe from exposure.
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