1. Good blogs have a voice. Who wrote this? What is their name? What can I figure out about who they are that they have never overtly told me? What’s their personality like and what do they have to contribute — even when it’s “just” curation. What tics and foibles fascinate make me about this blog and the person who makes it? Most importantly: what obsesses this person?
2. Good blogs reflect focused obsessions. People start real blogs because they think about something a lot. Maybe even five things. But, their brain so overflows with curiosity about a family of topics that they can’t stop reading and writing about it. They make and consume smart forebrain porn. So: where do this person’s obsessions take them?
3. Good blogs are the product of “Attention times Interest.” A blog shows me where someone’s attention tends to go. Then, on some level, they encourage me to follow the evolution of their interest through a day or a year. There’s a story here. Ethical “via” links make it easy for me to follow their specific trail of attention, then join them for a walk made out of words.
4. Good blog posts are made of paragraphs. Blog posts are written, not defecated. They show some level of craft, thinking, and continuity beyond the word count mandated by the Owner of Your Plantation. If a blog has fixed limits on post minimums and maximums? It’s not a blog: it’s a website that hires writers. Which is fine. But, it’s not really a blog.
5. Good “non-post” blogs have style and curation. Some of the best blogs use unusual formats, employ only photos and video, or utilize the list format to artistic effect. I regret there are not more blogs that see format as the container for creativity — rather than an excuse to write less or link without context more.
6. Good blogs are weird. Blogs make fart noises and occasionally vex readers with the degree to which the blogger’s obsession will inevitably diverge from the reader’s. If this isn’t happening every few weeks, the blogger is either bored, half-assing, or taking new medication.
7. Good blogs make you want to start your own blog. At some point, everyone wants to kill the Buddha and make their own obsessions the focus. This is good. It means you care.
8. Good blogs try. I’ve come to believe that creative life in the first-world comes down to those who try just a little bit harder. Then, there’s the other 98%. They’re still eating the free continental breakfast over at FriendFeed. A good blog is written by a blogger who thinks longer, works harder, and obsesses more. Ultimately, a good blogger tries. That’s why “good” is getting rare.
9. Good blogs know when to break their own rules. Duh. I made a list, didn’t I? Yes. I did. Big fan.

And, yeah, you should disagree with potentially all of this. It’s because I have an opinion, and so do you. It’s why you probably have a blog. See? The system works.

43 Folders® is a registered trademark of Merlin Mann. All posts and comments © their original owners.  This post is not to seen as evidence of endorsement and is purely for your knowledge in case you missed it on 43 Folders.com

Source [Merlin Mann of 43Folders]

Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster, NFL Films voice Harry Kalas dies at 73 in Washington – ESPN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas was taken to a hospital Monday after passing out in the broadcast booth before Monday’s game against the Washington Nationals, team president David Montgomery said.

“I think it’s serious,” Montgomery said. “Our thoughts and prayers are obviously with Harry.”

The 73-year-old Kalas, known for his distinctive “Outta here!” call on home runs, was found by the Phillies director of broadcasting at about 12:30 p.m., Montgomery said.

Kalas joined the Phillies in 1971. Before that, he was an original member of the Houston Astros’ broadcast team from 1965-70.
In 2002, he received the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for his contributions to the game.

[Source] The Associated Press

Did You Know?

This is a presentation stolen and updated to be more broad as it was originally made by two teachers who are upset at the current lack of car our government gives to education.

It is worth your full attention for 5 mins. you may want to watch a second time or more and stop on the slides that hurt to watch the most. This is why we need to start paying more attention to what is going on around us and not be such a me generation.

Please pass this along to as many people as you can.

Do you remember ever seeing a baby pigeon?

First of all, unlike dippy little English sparrows or robins, pigeons hide their nests.

Back when they emerged in Asia (evidently, they were nature-living animals, once), pigeons were cliff-dwellers. So now they balance their messy nests of sticks inside the guts of bridges, or atop tall buildings, or on top of your air conditioner. Pigeons are also extraordinarily greedy and the babies, or squabs, pork out constantly. The doting parents don’t feed these butter-balls your typical bird baby-food. These birdlets get something called “pigeon milk,” and the faint-of-stomach may not wish to explore this paragraph further. Both parents manufacture in their crop, or throat, a rich, fatty “milk” that looks much like yellow cottage cheese. They ralph this delicacy up and expel it into the throats of their darlings. You can see this white stuff glowing in the crops of the squabs. They’re just full of it.

The parents will feed the babies until they’re totally feathered out, until they are of an equal size or bigger to their parents. You know when people eat squab, that’s when they take ‘em — when they’re nice and plump.” Squab, for the culinarily challenged, being baby pigeon.

The fact that pigeons only lay two eggs at a time means that they can spoil their little darlings, unlike some other birds that produce several babies, half of which drop dead leaving only the strongest.

This leads me on to my theory as to why pigeons are stupid, a lack of natural selection against the really thick ones just doesn’t happen in childhood and the bad genes don’t get weeded out of the gene pool. But that has nothing to do with the original question.

Care to practice finding the youngsters? Look for them in the spring and summer.

They may have stray strands of down poking through their feathers.
They may retain a trace of the “lip” around their beak that gives the parents a wider ralphing target.
Their heads may be narrower.
They may be shy. They’re more timid, They won’t be professional in going after the best food.

I took these pics while going to school in Kanagawa, Japan in Hiratsuka-Shi @ Tokai University Shonan