word!

Yahoo! is slowly releasing it’s new whiz-bang technology that is going to unite blogging, social networking and some other stuff together under the Yahoo! brand. WOW. I’m almost as giddy as when MSN spaces went live. Props to this guy for the invite though. Man, I wonder how much these things could go for on eBay. (Looks like someone already is auctioning away a not so rare invite). Ha.

So yeah, here’s my awesome placeholder of a page. It’s bland, but it takes off, oh man, imagine the blank possibilities that await.

Wanna an invite? 100 waiting to be had. Don’t want one, no problem too.

Was amazed today ot watch Family Feud and see that both teams fudged up the simple polled question of larged cities in Texas. Sure they got Dallas, San Antonio & Houston. But it was beyond everyone else what the fourth and final answer was. A whole ten people had nary a clue as to the answer. Some of the more inventive names ~ Taco,TX and Irving, TX; whose name, when proferred by the contestant, even sounded like he was unsure of the answer. Sad. So the geniuses that started the round won, but it was a shallow victory. Even Richard Karn knew the answer, uh, what’s the capital of Texas ~ Austin?

It’s a sad day in gameshow land. But it shouldn’t suprise me. They have to have your ‘average’ American play otherwise it would probably be boring is all I can garner from this.

I used to religiously watch The Wheel of Fortune because it always seemed like the only show my Grandpa would ever take active interest in other than the local news, plus the only station they could reliably get in was CBS, so that may of had something to do with it. I also think it was Vanna White, who had the hardest job in all of show business, turning letters. Even while technology has rendered her useless, she still holds down the job of gracing the puzzle board and walking back and forth in a designer dress, lest we change the station to avoid her polarity. But it was great fun answering the puzzles before him and the contestants. I think it irked my Grandpa because I usually turned out right, but it was fun to yell at the contestants when they answered something so far off you pondered their IQ.

I’ve also been a livid fan of Jeopardy! As a former Knowledge Bowl star for my highschool, it comes as no suprise I find shows that draw upon useless tidbits of information totally engrossing. At least that game is somewhat a challenge for people, as they have so many different categories to draw from, it’s impossible to know it all. This intrigues me. Heck I even audtioned one time at MOA for the show, when I was in college. Too bad it was just a general session, where you have to compete againest people that have had a lifetime of experience. Maybe if it would have been a college tryout, I could have got somewhere. But the questions are somewhat difficult and if you don’t get 10 out of 10 at the auditions, they don’t even want to know your name. Which is rough, because somedays you swear you could beat everyone on the Jeopardy! show singlehandedly. I think they should revise this, but I hear it’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are additional tests as well you must pass to make it up the chain. So they make this somewhat difficult, and to think this process is more demanding than the average requirements to be admitted into most colleges around here says something.

Anyway, I’ll continue to watch and be silently dismayed when people miss some obvious answers (or questions in Jeopardy!’s case). And I may even try to audition again sometime for Jeopardy! They just don’t come to Gaylord,Mn enough to test me!

Also of minor interest, I’ve posted some 100 entries to this blog in less than two years. Accomplishment? Not sure, some of the first posts were awful sparse. It’s a minor celebration in itself anyway.

Seems that yet another kid in America has shot up his school and his fellow classmates. Indeed this is sad, but already everyone is looking for excuses for why this happened. Excuses are oh so convenient for the media and the worried mind of middle Americans, asking how such things could happen, with continued repetition throughout the nation, year after year.

It’s convenient that they can dig up underpinnings of racist propaganda,the deviant art or the wearing of a dark trenchcoat. It only seems possible that such people would be so inclined. It wouldn’t be suprising if they uncover that a deep bond with satanic rock music as well. It would work into the picture quite well. It belittles the reasoning behind the actions and desperation that no doubt invades the minds of such school shooters. While they are screaming out for help, those in charge look the other way and dismiss the taunting and other b.s. that no doubt seeded the mind into justifying such actions.

It would not be suprising to find out the same ones emblazoned across the news, that said he was a quiet boy in the corner that no one had any problems with, were the same ones that constantly taunted and picked on him. Little did they know the error of their ways until he decided to unleash all that pent up frustration on the ones that had hurt him for so long. Only they will know trually in their hearts what would cause someone to do such things, but they would dare not say they prevoked him for fear of the reprecussions.

So while eveyone will continue to search for the elusive smoking gun to the reasoning behind such actions, it will be right out there in front of them. But why waste the effort and resources on something that may/may not happen to them. They only live in a small community where this kind of intense hatred and castigation could never ever happen. I’d say it’s more due to short sightedness than the relavent fact that this kind of crap happens everyday in the nation’s schools and only seems to manifest itself in a school shooting or such from time to time.

Just learned that Minnesota Dept of Revenue has released tax forms in Spanish. Whew! I has holding out on filing, but now that they have it in my mother tongue, I can finallly do so easily and effectively. Good Riddance.

Since when does everything have to be in everyone’s native tongue? This is the United States of America and last time I checked everyone I know and all I read was in American English. My ancestors spoke a different language other than English when they first came to America too, but they had to learn English in order to communicate effectively with others in their communites, who more often than not spoke the same mother tongue as them, but having come to the U.S. used English in order to assimilate into the population. They didn’t have special classes in school because they spoke a language other than English. They learned English and that’s the way things were. If they didn’t understand something, they didn’t get the government to pay for a personal translator for them, they did without or had a friend/family member help them out.

Now you can’t go anywhere without having the fear of not having dual or numerous languages posted for the same information. Why? So everyone can be content with way things are without having to exert themselves to learn something new? Or to employ a whole system of translators to boost the economy? Things would be so much simplier if English was a standard and everyone in the United States had to learn it or do without. What kind of country is this going to become if everyone gets to speak their own language? It’s not hard to imagine a modern day ‘Tower of Babel’. What good would that do, no one could communicate with each other, but at least they didn’t have to change for the betterment of the society. Sad, sad times.

After spying the Merch Alert! for a free “I love Bloglines” T-Shirt in the post script of Ask Jeeves post of it’s purchase of Bloglines, I emailed away for some free schwag. Little did I know that I would be lucky to recieve said merchanidise, but lo and behold I too got an email from Paul Loeffler at Ask Jeeves like many others on the web have.

But I can confirm that I have indeed recieved the t-shirt as well. Although, one wonders if only said 200 shirts were issued. If it turns out as such, it’s kinda of like being in a secret group where no one knows your name. 🙂

I was amused that Ask Jeeves and Bloglines itself have already been purchased in the amount of time this whole transaction took place. Quite amusing. And probably of little interest to anyone other than myself. But I am a happy user of Bloglines and hope to remain so into the foreseeable future. I guess that’s why this is all so engrossing.