This morning, a blog I read linked to The Local, which bills itself as "Sweden's News in English". (I've been to the site before-- but I haven't been a regular reader for quite some time.) I read the linked article and was about to navigate away from the page when something near the top caught my eye:
"A body is discovered, followed by two skeletons." True, the quote's attributed to "The Swedish Book Blog", which clears up the mystery pretty quickly, but in juxtaposition with that happy, smiling face (a photo of the journalist/book blogger, I assume), the grisly quotation just struck me as bizarre and amusing.
I thought this was probably just a fluke-- but after refreshing the page and getting new "headline quotations", I began to think that they do this kind of thing on purpose. (Not necessarily always by pairing creepy quotations with smiling photos, however. Sometimes they just choose an eye-grabbingly odd line for the quotation.)
Next up, there was a surgical masked statue announcing, "Hello. My name is Peter and I have had the swine flu."
(Um. Dude? You might want to pull the mask up so that it covers your nose, too. . . Just a thought.)
Then there's this gem:
"How many insects do you need to make a hamburger?"
(. . . Remind me to skip the burgers, next time I'm in Sweden.)
And here's one more dose of the absurd:
"Ladies, send me some pictures of your shaved heads."
I had to click that one just to see what in the world that was all about. Apparently, the female shaven head is some sort of new trendy look, and the columnist is seeking more photos of women who have shaven their heads for fashion. . . . No, seriously.
Ah, the Internet. You never know what you'll find next!
I'm probably the last person in the world to hear about Repper (or at least the last person who might potentially be interested in it), but just in case I'm not, I highly recommend it, if you want to quickly and easily create a seamless tiled background image.
It's web-based. You don't have to download or install anything to use it. You don't even have to register. You just go to the web page, click "Start Tool Now", and play around until you get something you like. You can use their photos (one of which automatically pops up when you start the tool) or upload your own photo or other image. Move and/or resize the "sampler" square to repeat different parts of the picture. When you get a pattern you like, save it. (There's a brief "how to" video on the home page, if you need help.)
I found this tool when I decided to finally make my own background for my Twitter page. Not only is it simple and fast, but it's also quite a bit of fun.
It has been brought to my attention ;o) that I haven't blogged in a while. So let's see if I can scrape together a few things to make a new blog entry. . .
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We had a Fourth of July grill lunch with my father's side of the family (or at least those who could make it). I took some photos and video of my two youngest cousins (Jacob & Olivia) demonstrating their diving ability. They're up on my Flickr and Vimeo accounts, and if you're a friend or family, you can see them there (or in the case of the photos, on Facebook). (You'll need to be approved as family/friends, though-- just a matter of asking.)
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That brings me to Facebook, which I finally got around to using. (This after joining a while back and never even uploading a photo of myself.) Well, I used it for a few days and haven't been back since. I don't know why... It's more fun than I thought it would be, but I can see it becoming an(other) obsession-inducing Internet time-waster. I'm definitely going to drop out of the whole Mafia Wars thing. I just have enough places where I already waste time, and I don't need another. (I'd rather waste my time with Flickr, Vimeo, Blogger, and my off-line time-wasters.) "Thank you" to the people who tried to help get me "set up" on it, though. (g)
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Here's one for the "Oh My" category. Did you hear about Chia Obama? (It seems vaguely familiar to me, but I'm not sure where/when I heard about it before... From Donald, I think.) If you hadn't heard of it until now, let me assure you that I'm completely serious. It's a terra cotta Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia-style bust of you-know-who, originally intended to be sold by Walgreens, but quickly yanked off the shelves when someone decided that it was potentially offensive.
Still think I'm pulling your leg? Take a look at the commercial:
(Does it remind anyone else of an Oompa Loompa, with that orange complexion and green hair?)
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Our little area's been in the "big" news more that usual, lately.
First, the nominee for Surgeon General is from a town not terribly far to our west-- Bayou La Batre, AL. (Someone had a bit of trouble pronouncing the name, but because he made the fumble-- instead of, say, his predecessor-- it won't be used as proof of idiocy. Not that I think a mispronunciation indicates idiocy-- I've made too many of them myself to be of that opinion! (g)-- but you get my point.)
Second, there's the recent news story of the double murder in Beulah, near Pensacola, FL. Back when I lived with my parents, a drive to Pensacola led right through Beulah. (In other words, it's not very far away.) This story has been dominant in the local news, but I've also noticed that the national news is following it with greater than usual interest-- and Donald told me that it was even the top story on the online Swedish newspaper he reads!
(No, no comments on the stories themselves. For the first, I don't know enough about the doctor to make any relevant remarks. For the second, beyond the typical response that it's awful and I'm curious about the circumstances that led to it, there's nothing else to write.)
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I'm still having fun with photography, even if they're just run-of-the-mill nature and pet shots...
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Frequently, when I get e-mail saying that someone new is now "following" me on Twitter, Donald comments on it. (He himself doesn't "tweet".) I try not to pay too much attention to the notifications, myself, because if I did, I might start keeping track of the numbers-- and more specifically, keeping track of when they fall.
Twitter is a strange thing, with its instant feedback. The trending topics have more than once been my first alert of a news story. I've also used it to get an immediate feel for what people are saying about one subject or another. (However, I usually find that the results are skewed strongly to the left, as is typical online, in my experience. That does get old. ...Very old. But moving on...)
I'm sure that I've tweeted things that have lost me followers-- whether because I've made just one too many boring updates on local weather and the daily doings of my dog (Though honestly, who doesn't want to know what Trixie's up to? She's pretty darn fascinating!) or because I've dared to express an unpopular (on Twitter, at least) political opinion. Either way, it doesn't really matter. The key is that instant feedback-- that constantly rising or falling value of yourself (as a tweeter, if nothing else). I'm not a fan of that aspect of Twitter (or other social networking sites), to tell the truth, which is why I try not to glance up at that upper right-hand corner with the follower count. I don't need to know how many people deem me worthy of following today, as opposed to yesterday. But thanks anyway, Twitter.
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As if to make up for the drought of a month ago, we've been getting plenty of rain lately, and we're even supposed to get a "cold front" in the next few days. Of course, by "cold front" what the weatherman really means is that our highs should be in the upper 80s instead of the low-to-mid 90s. But hey! We'll take whatever we can get in the way of cooler weather! And it may actually be in the 60s overnight for a day or two! (Woo hoo!)
So, what's the weather like in Sweden, right now? Oh, just highs in the 70s is all. But it looks like they're getting rain and highs in the 60s, coming up soon, so I bet they're not too happy with their weather, either. I'd still trade, though. Sixties with rain? Sure. Bring - it - on. ;o)
By one reckoning, I probably ought to live in the Pacific Northwest, but I don't think I'd be happy in that political climate. Besides, that's a long move away from family and the places I grew up... And maybe I would get tired of the dreariness, eventually. It's hard to know how I'd react to nearly perpetual cloudcover, having always lived in such a warm, sunny place. Sure, we usually get a lot of rain here, but it comes in downpours-- generally with sun immediately before and after. Anyway-- "Bloom where you are planted", right?
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We're still considering different paint colors for the kitchen (and haven't even really looked at potential bath colors at all). Donald picked up a few (okay, more than a few) new paint chips, last time he was in a home improvement store, and now I think we're leaning towards one of those colors. But then I start having second thoughts and wonder if we ought to steer clear of blue/aqua-blue altogether. A different shade of yellow? A rich cream? A soft sand? Aaaaaah! Indecision! At least we're not in any big rush, so we have plenty of time to dither. We'll probably end up making our choice at the eleventh hour. (Part of the fun of painting is thinking about all the possibilities.)
When I saw Kimberly today, she asked if I'd seen that a local city (local as in that's where my father works, and this city's high school football team was/is our high school football team's main rival) was mentioned in the ticker at the bottom of a recent Onion video.
I hadn't, so of course I had to go find it and take a couple of screenshots:
(Click to see it bigger, if you're interested.)
I don't know what to make of it, but I guess it's funny that they chose to mention a local city, even if it had to be about a trailer park. (Incidentally, just in case someone isn't familiar with The Onion, it's satire. This is not a real news story. (g))
More fun (for me, at least) with Google Analytics!
(If you have a blog or other website and would like to get all sorts of neat statistics about it for free, I recommend Analytics. It's pretty easy to set up, and did I mention that it's free? (g) Hurray for free stuff!)
Let's see. . . The last time I did this was in February. So I guess I'll just look from that point forward.
Keywords-- That is, the words or phrases people were searching for when they found this blog. Sorry, if everyone already knew that. (g)
odds and ends polymer clay -- 41 visits
denim rag quilt -- 20
rag quits -- 10
denim quilt -- 5
how to make rag quilts -- 5
I won't list them all, but there are many (soo many!) rag quilt-related keywords throughout this list. Just about every possible search term relating to rag quilts (and every misspelling of "denim") is represented, I think. (g) It's clearly the single subject that draws most of the new visitors to this blog. And I haven't even finished my first rag quilt, yet! (Just a couple of rag quilted bags.)
Back to the list. . .
flickr polymer clay photostream -- 3 visits
"congenital cataracts" glasses -- 1 (from here on out, all led to just one visit, unless otherwise noted. . . and in those cases, there was always a slight variation in spelling or wording)
a couple of songs-- "everywhere" moustache / "follow you follow me" gilmore girls
"making flocking" models -- I have no idea now to make flocking. Sorry.
"odds and ends" cartoon -- Never heard of it.
"odds and ends" quilt
"sarah michaels" extra thick body cream / sarah michaels body cream milk and honey / sarah michaels first light lotion -- Yeah, I heard they discontinued that line of products.
"self help books" -- Uh oh. . . I hope I didn't "dis" that genre too harshly. . . ;o)
"vintage children's books" blog -- (x2) Sounds interesting, but this isn't one of those.
"wailin' jennys" -- (x2) (It's a musical group.)
michaels clay sale -- (x6) Actually, they have one going on right now! (g)
1920s etiquette
adrigole -- huh? I have no idea where I might have written this, because I don't know what it is. (g) . . .Ok, it's a village in Ireland. This is one of those random things from the Wikipedia meme.
Ainsbruck -- Yes, I was writing about the Ainsbruck Singers, a Swedish group. There are very few Google hits for this word!
another word for all-knowing -- Try "omniscient". :o)
are eye exams scary -- Aw, don't worry! They're really not that bad. :o)
ashokan farewell mp3 jay ungar
bedroom odds and ends
blue gray skin / blue-gray man / blue-gray skin man / grey skin man / youtube gray skin man-- He generated a lot of interest!
cheese quizzes -- Again?! (This popped up last time, too.)
child's pattern for making a terry cloth poncho out of a towel
cindi schramer -- Who's that? Oh, she's one of the people who designed one of the rag quilting projects I linked to. I wonder if she was googling herself, or if this was a loyal fan? ;o)
clothes made with vintage bits -- Sounds like fun!
Three different keywords regarding the Curly Sue soundtrack
cute pictures of vintage children's books
dean priest emily of new moon / dean priest l.m. montgomery -- He really is better than Teddy, isn't he?
decorations polymer clay youtube
device to pour milk from milk jug -- If you find one, let me know.
dog shaped rag quilt -- I can't really imagine that. . .
fashion forcast childran illustartion (sic) -- I didn't know there was such a thing!
grandfathers barn poem -- Doesn't ring any bells. . .
hands vibrate after mowing lawn -- This one came up twice. (g)
hooked rug whip stitching
how much clearance is needed for a porch swing -- I wish I could have found a good formula. Seems like you just have to figure it out for yourself!
i'd rather be quilting
instructions for large bride figure out of household items -- . . . Do you have any idea what they were looking for? I can't quite figure it out. Unless they wanted to make a homemade dressmaker's form. . .
it's-a-beautiful-world-we-live-in music
krispy kreme bear claws -- Please stop! You're making me hungry!!
lawn cutting gloves -- They make some especially for lawn mowing?
lawn to a wooded area photos -- You mean like a gradual transformation or "before and after"? Sounds interesting to me, too, but you won't find that here.
little plastic ballerina / plastic ballerina cake toppers -- More hits for that photo I found on Flickr!
lucia katts -- Look, I told you you're making me hungry. . .
miss lollipop's lion -- (x2) Yes, we had that book when I was a kid. :o)
odd old quilt -- (g) That's the honest way to describe a "vintage crazy quilt".
odds & ends fashion magazine -- Trust me, I'm probably not the one to be giving out fashion advice.
odds lawn care
oddsandends face painting -- Sure, I can do that.
on monday i found a little bug poem -- Never heard of it.
ow to make a rag bag -- Depends on 'ow ye wannit to look, dearie. ;o)
photo death "gray skin" -- Um, ok . . . Creepy. You won't be finding that here.
photos, lawnmowing -- It's not really that interesting, is it?
playskool wonderfalls
polyfelt, wool felt -- So, which did you choose? The wool felt's nicer, but the price. . .
problems with house finches nesting on my back porch again! -- Well, they are messy. If you don't mind being a little mean, I guess you could just remove the beginnings of the nest, as soon as you see it. I don't know if there's anything you can do to make the area less desirable to begin with. . . Get a cat? ;o)
rags: making a little something out of almost nothing
scans of vintage kids mags / vintage children magazine ads
sziklai pair -- Well, at least this time I know how in the world this keyword led to my blog. It's due to that Wikipedia meme, again.
t shirt rag quilt pattern -- I didn't know you could use t-shirts in any quilt. Or at least I thought they were a bit too stretchy to be a good choice. . .
tarklin state park -- It's a nice little walk. :o)
things to make from a rag quilt -- . . . It's already a quilt. You're done. ;o) Seriously, you can make bags, curtains/valances, shower curtains, table runners. . . wall art. . . pillows. . .
well water gray color -- Ew. I suggest that you don't drink it. Well water is supposed to be nice and clear, in my experience.
where to find rag quilting squares -- You mean pre-cut? I'm not sure. They're pretty easy to cut for yourself. Just use any fabric that tends to fray-- denim, flannel, homespun. . .
winn-dixie -- Not my favorite place to shop, but I'll go when they have good sales.
Here are some things people have been looking for when they've found this blog:
slitherin snakes -- Two people came in on this one.
"patterns using towels"-- Yes, I'd noticed several people accessing this blog through that entry, since adding the Feedjit live traffic feed. I never knew that was such a popular craft!
"yes ma'am" -- See, people still say that, 1920's Etiquette Book Lady! ;o)
all knowing ipod meme -- Another one I've noticed on my Feedjit widget.
any colour you like, mid -- Looking for a midi file, I guess? Sorry, none here.
avila jennys meaning -- No idea. I've never paid much attention to the lyrics, before now.
baldwin and the whiffles sh-boom -- Fun song, isn't it?
curly sue soundtrack -- Several music-related hits, lately!
figuring out squares for rag quilt-- Depends on how big you want it to be and how "raggy" you want it. Most people figure in a half-inch seam allowance. If that's what you want, decide how big you want the finished quilt to be and how many squares you want (across and down). Divide the desired length and width by the number of squares you'd like to get the size of the finished (quilted and ragged) squares, then cut the squares one inch bigger (in width and length) than that. (That leaves 1/2 inch "spare" on all sides.) If you aren't too picky about the size of the finished quilt, I think it's a lot easier to work with even inches-- or half-inches, at least. When you get down to quarter inches, you're more likely to make a mistake on your calculating or cutting. Besides, one of the main attractions of rag quilts is that it's so quick and easy-- so why complicate matters? Don't forget to double the number of squares so you'll have enough for the front and the back. If they're using flannel and no batting, some people like to triple the number of squares to give the quilt a little more warmth and thickness. In that case, you'll probably want to use your cheapest (or your least favorite) flannel for the middle layer-- but keep in mind that the colors will show in the ragging.) Have fun! :o)
ipod imposter -- You have one, too? ;o)
kids vintage fashion pics -- (and more similar to this.) Sorry to disappoint.
movie that ends with gnossienne -- No idea, unless it was The Painted Veil, which was the movie I was writing about when I mentioned it. . .
nearsighted in one eye -- Well, I guess it's better than nearsighted in both eyes (like I am). (g)
odds on random things -- Like the odds of winning the lottery, getting struck by lighting, finding an honest politician, etc.? None of those here.
plastic ballerinas+cakedecorating -- I hope you liked the picture I found. (g)
pushing daisies retrospective -- I don't think I've written one. . .
random quizzes about cheese -- (laugh) Are there such things?
sunnyroad manasseh mix -- (multiple variants of this one.) It's a great mix. I wish it was on the original CD. . .
unique personality traits -- Plenty of those here. ;o)
what is the chance i have been abducted by aliens quiz -- Speaks for itself.
Maybe I ought to write about some of these things. I hate to think how disappointed these folks must've been once they got here. ;o)
Oh, I just realized that I was only looking at the keywords from the last month. (I thought there ought to be more of them!) I'll have to do another post looking back all the way to the beginning of the blog.
Other tidbits of the analytical type*:
54% of pageviews are the "index"/main page/the page you get when you type in the URL.
15% of pageviews are of the entry about "Sweden in 100 Little Pieces". (g)
5% of pageviews are of the entry where I first mentioned rag quilting.
Pages of this site have been viewed 1,079 times, with 939 unique visits.
This blog has had 271 absolutely unique visitors.
Sixteen different languages are represented by this blog's visitors. (Of course, I think this is a bit skewed, as there are different categories for English, US English, and UK English, as well as two for Swedish, I think.)
Nearly 34% of my visitors have come here just one time. (Didn't like what they saw, I guess. Maybe they're the disgruntled readers looking for quizzes about cheese, etc. (g)) 12% have visited 26-50 times, and another 12% have read this blog 51-100 times. 5.5% of you have been here over 100 times.
If I understand the Visitor Loyalty report (which is a bit iffy, to tell the truth), that loyal 5.5% is made up of 44 individuals. That more than I would've thought!
Most of my traffic (74.9%) has come from referring sites (mainly mossyowls.com and blogger.com). The rest is fairly evenly divided between direct traffic (people typing in my URL or using a bookmark, etc.) and search engines.
Nearly 55% of visitors are using Internet Explorer, but 42% use Firefox. (We use Firefox. It was Donald's idea, and at first I was resistant, because I'm too lazy to learn new programs a creature of habit, but now that I'm adapted, I'm a faithful Firefox user.)
*All stats are based on the entire time I've had this blog-- since November of last year.
It's pretty amazing that you can have all these statistics (and more) for free! Just look up Google Analytics. (There are probably others out there, too, but that's the one I'm using.)
"A body is discovered, followed by two skeletons." True, the quote's attributed to "The Swedish Book Blog", which clears up the mystery pretty quickly, but in juxtaposition with that happy, smiling face (a photo of the journalist/book blogger, I assume), the grisly quotation just struck me as bizarre and amusing.
"How many insects do you need to make a hamburger?"
"Ladies, send me some pictures of your shaved heads."
