new trends in spam

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So, I haven’t written in a while. Sorry folks. I had some thoughts  to share about my daughter’s just-past first birthday, so I came here ready to post.

First, I stopped in the comments folder. Mostly it is spam, but I live for the responses from real reader. In the spam file, the first comment I found was this one, from a Carol Miller:

Please don’t take this the wrong way. I think your overall ideas are fine but you might want to put a little more thought into your next posts. I say this becuase it seems like your writing style has gone downhill a bit as opposed to your previous posts. – C.

Really, Carol? I wonder what she means. This comment is in response to this post. You don’t need to follow the link. It’s a video of Veronica scooting.

On further examination, Carol’s comment included a website link.

So, the spammer are now using insults to capture our attention. Perhaps we are low-self-esteem, needy webbloggers and will respond more readily to criticism.

Here’s another spam-sult:

Really? Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying, I’m in agreement with you partially, but when you say something like this you actually have to be prepared to back it up.

Not all spammers are following this new trend. Here is an old-style compliment-spam from Walter T., purveyer of gardening tools:

Easily, the post is really the freshest on this laudable topic. I harmonize with your conclusions and will thirstily look forward to your incoming updates. Just saying thanks will not just be adequate, for the fantasti c lucidity in your writing. I will directly grab your rss feed to stay abreast of any updates. De lightful work and much success in your business efforts!

I am tempted to buy some of his tools, just because the man knows how to construct some flattery.

you try and you try–but there are somethings you can’t affect

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Haiti’s dilemma makes me so sad I can barely think about it. Just one little flicker of picturing the horror of being trapped under a building because of something that was entirely not your fault and knowing you are going to die…aaahhhhhhhhhhhg…think of something else quick.

Lots of peole are texting YELE for the Wyclef charity fund, and I think that’s great. I am telling myself I will donate after a little bit, when the rest of everybody has moved on but  Haiti is still in rubble.

Thing is, Haiti doesn’t have a lot of quakes. They have hurricanes. They build their houses  like the 3rd little pig, out of bricks, so that they would withstand the huff and the puff.

Here in california, we have quakes, so we build 2nd little pig style, out of sticks..Wood flexes and doesn’t fall down.  And let me remind all my readers, as others have been repeating, be ready for catastrophe. Get the spare water and get the food and medicine emergency kit. Okay? Cause you never know. Be prepared!

Except Haiti had been sort of trying to be prepared. THey were prepared for the likely even, a hurricane. THey were not prepared for the unlikely event.

And that makes me know that we are all very exposed to disaster. Some things you cannot see coming. THere is no such thing as being prepared enough.

I guess that is why it’s good to know how to pray. To keep your hand in, as it were, on the prayer hotline. Because when you can’t do anything, you can still pray.

Let’s pray for Haiti, and stay humble.

2010

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welcome to the next year…the next decade…the next whatever.

I haven’t written in a long time. i’m kind of tired. There is a lot to do.

I have a certain amount of trepidation for this upcoming year. I am stonger than I was last year, thanks to the character bootcamp that is motherhood.

I just i’ll just have to pull up my boots and march on. I have a lot I want to do.

nice echo

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Every morning I go to headquarters to check the equipment for the uppitymucks. I have a well-tread path, and part of it takes me through the stairwell. Since I am there so early, I feel pretty confident that I am all alone. So I sing in the stairwell.

Right now Christmas Carols work. Other times I’ll sing Sinatra songs (the influence of my husband) or Danny Boy or some other such. The echo is really lovely. I wouldn’t really mind other people hearing me sing, but perhaps not everyone who is trudging to their cube wants to hear about how Danny Boy is being called by the pipes.

Now that the internet has moved away from me, this blog reminds me of that stairwell. It’s pretty unlikely that anyone hears what I am saying. In a way, it’s a nice thing. I can say whatever I want.

domestic imperialism

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Jedidiah Purdy came to my attention because he wrote some amazing book or other and he was homeschooled.

I googled him further and discovered this article

In nearly impenetrable language, he discusses the ideals behind imperialism. To be reductive, he says that imperialist action is based on the idea that one party knows better than another. He divides imperialism into two camps, weak and strong.  Strong imperialism says “We know better than you and are going to place ourselves in a position to make decisions for you.”  Weak imperialism is a sort of emancipatory imperialism, saying, “You, the people, are under the power of other people who are not allowing you to make your own decisions. We will overpower those who have overpowered you to restore your self-determination.”

Weak imperialism contains a contradiction, because an outside party is deciding what the so-called oppressed people need. However, it is arguably a necessary thing to help the helpless on occasion.

Why do I bring up imperialism right now? Because the democrats in the united states congress have taken it upon themselves to decide for its citizenry what we need. There is not popular support for this Health Care bill, but they have come to the conclusion that they know better than their constituents.

That is just the current manifestation. What will this very deeply private health care bill further decide for Americans?

hard life lessons

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LOVE

It’s a hard lesson. Just because you love someone, it doesn’t mean they feel the same way about you.

You have to read their body language, and not just what you want to see.

WORK

computers will often behave in ways you don’t want them to. But you keep coming back.

..even when you thought you were done…

concrete tall and wide

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Once, when visiting Manhattan, I stood on the roof of the Empire State building. It was dusk, and I could see in all directions. Wherever there wasn’t water, there were buildings. Incredible! With the tiny little fully encased exception of Central Park, everything was paved and built-over as far as the eye could see. And the eye could see for miles. I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself.

Driving from Pasadena to Irvine (Orange County) yesterday, I had to drive slowly. It was raining,  so the traffic was backed up and I had to drive very very slow. I passed through neighborhood after neighborhood after commercial strip mall. Overpasses and exits and miles and miles of freeway. It occurred to me that the Los Angeles area is very populated and built up. It made me think of the view from the Empire State building. I wondered if L.A. had a tall building that could give a similar view. I thought of the Library tower, famous for being the first to get blown up by the Aliens in Independence Day.

Then I realized that the view of the L.A. basin is best seen from the mountains. I’d taken the Angeles Crest highway. and seen the whole thing.

But seeing the man made from a tall mountain is a totally different experience. The Empire State building is a man-made structure. Seeing all the man-made things from a man-made things takes your breath away. You realize how very much man can subdue nature.

But seeing man-made things from a mountain makes man-made things look small. The mountain will outlast us. Nature has patience with us, because we are not so very important in the big scheme of things.