World Clock

A few observations about this clock:

- The net population growth this week was 1.3 million
- The earth's temperature is increasing by about one trillionth of a degree Celsius every second
-6 of 10 people who are diagnosed with cancer, die from it
-For every birth, there is roughly 1 bicycle produced
-For every three births, there is roughly 1 car produced

For you...

For you..., originally uploaded by -SPK.

... from Paige.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Visitors and commentors

How many visitors does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll?

The chart depicted above is the last 12 months worth of data related to the number of visitors that come to this blog.

My number one visited blog post by far is Coach Lou Holtz and the second is Bailing out the Auto Industry.  Interestingly, both posts are original content and not just me "reading the entire internet so you don't have to®."

I wonder if other bloggers feel like I do about comments? I desire to have more comments here and I'm not sure how to get them... I am a comment guy when I visit other blogs, I like to say what's on my mind or make a lame attempt to be funny. I could post provocative pictures of myself and get hate comments, or ask for reader feedback in return for some new posts - but then my fans would suffer. (read: no one would care)

So here I sit... typing and trying to be entertaining, cute, cuddly, and... well commented about. 

Now that I put it that way, I changed my mind. I may turn off comments. You will have to comment to YOURSELVES. Who the hell wants to hear *you* people and what you have to say anyway? You're here to hear (not easy to type) what I have to say - type - WHAT EVER. You know what I mean. AndIcanrambleonandonandonandyoucan'tsayanything.

There.

The definition of LUCKY

Amber fields

I've been admiring fields in our area that look like this. My eye loves the "standardness" of the vegetation and the amber colors.

Taken while pulled over and the camera leaning on the window that was 1/2 way down.

View map of location.

WHAT kind of bear is this?

Wait, how is it pronounced?

Snuggle FAIL

Kaitlyn and her dinosaur, originally uploaded by -SPK.

Bailing out the auto industry...

My Andy Rooney take on this:

I'm concerned about America's infatuation with throwing money at things. Money problems? Throw more money in the pit.

Lets take the auto industry: GM is basically out of business because they are losing billions of dollars every month. Why? Well, I'll tell you why: Because people are not buying their cars and trucks, they're buying other manufacturers stuff. GM has lost market share. It's very simple.

So, what does our government want to do? They want to take YOUR and MY tax money and give it to them to "rescue them." See, I am a capitalist. I believe that companies should rise and fall based on how they do in the free market. There is no need to rescue a company because the market has already decided they are done.

I have made a personal decision to buy Toyota when we purchased our last two family cars. I did this based on research, value, repair history, models available, and price. I chose NOT to give my money to GM, and I don't want the government to make that decision for me.

Lets do a comparison: The ice block delivery business was huge in the early 1900's, and there were many men and women employed in this industry. When the refrigerator was invented in 1911 - these companies started to fail. They lost "billions every month". They employed "thousands of hard working Americans". What if the government decided to rescue them? Throw money at the ice block delivery companies to keep them in business? What would have happened to the refrigerator companies? I'll tell you what: It would have significantly slowed PROGRESS. Innovation and the MARKET decided together that having ice delivered to an ice box wasn't as good as a refrigerator. Simple as that.

GM is an ice delivery company. Let them go if they can't innovate - don't SLOW PROGRESS!

Dear Government, let capitalism reign. Let good companies grow and poor companies shrink. Go ahead and let the bubble burst, it'll hurt for a while but the state of the economy in a few years will be much better than if you just prolonged the inevitable. Think of it like a forest fire, it's devastating when it's happening but in a few seasons you will see fresh, new, healthy growth.

Edit: Welcome reddit. For the rest of you, click here to see the other comments.

OMG, it's a face stain of Jason Mraz!

So, I'm on the phone with a client today and I happen to look over at my tablet and see this food stain on it. Tell me it doesn't look exactly like Jason Mraz!



Here's the album cover of him:



Can I get money for this???? Quick call CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and the Enquirer!

Video & Audio Chat right in Gmail

As if you needed another reason to love Gmail, today they announced FREE video & audio chat right inside Gmail.



I totally what one of the Logitech QuickCams. $69.99 for all this?! Make sure you watch the video there....

Here is the post on the official Gmail blog.

I have a few "issues"

The most obvious can be found in this screen shot of my current inbox on Gmail:



Yes, there's one email in my inbox. When I see Becky's inbox, I get nauseous. It's filled with at least 100 read, unread, starred, and labeled emails. (Not that there is anything wrong with that, babe.) I have found that she's in the NORM and I'm obsessive. Or maybe I'm just clean(er).

Let me ask you this, Gmail users: You are aware that you have this thing called "Archive", right? I mean, you have an email from 5 months ago in your inbox that you think you need to save? Well, see... Gmail has a search function (and I've heard Google is pretty good at this) so ARCHIVE those messages and get a happy and clean inbox.

My other hang up is two-way light switches that aren't "uniform".

This, for example, would drive me mad. Since the girls seem to think it's OK to flip the switches haphazardly around this house, I can often be found running upstairs to turn off the hallway light just so the downstairs switches look like this:

Got an issue? Bask in it. Thoroughly.

I'm engaging you with "Reactions"

So, yesterday I read on the official blogger blog that I can put these cool little boxes below my posts to get some quick and easy feedback from my readers.

So, I add it. Poop, it doesn't work. I read more and learn that if my template is customized (which I did customize mine) it may not work. Normally, I would leave a comment asking for help and guidance from the google magicians - but HELLO? Google doesn't allow comments on their posts. Isn't this an oxymoron; they're writing about engaging readers but don't allow comments. I digress.

I decide to google "blogger reactions" and come across this blog which was written in August. They have explicit instructions on how to edit the html, which I have learned is not for the weak. Look at this screenshot of me editing the template:



Needless to say, this is my way of introducing "Reactions" to What's Better Than This, I hope you use it and use it often.

View Barack Obama and family on election night

These are the flickr photos uploaded by Barack Obama. They were taken on election night and show us a nice behind the scenes view of what went on.

Yes.We.Can

"For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.

It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.

Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can."

-Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States

Goodbye to summer, 2008. You were great to us.

FAIL: out of office

When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed.

Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated".

via