Famous Grazing Portal

We’ve registered grazingporrtal.net as the URL for the Famous Grazing Portal. You will notice the two “r’s”. That was a typo, but a typo worked for Google, so we decided to keep it that way. The URL will be connected to the site later today.

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Long Monday

Monday is rarely fun.

Yesterday was not only not fun it was tedious. I don’t mind hard work, but when you know a lot of it is being done to justify the existence of others, tedium sets in. Sometimes volunteer work is harder because of that.

When I volunteered to serve on a town commission ten years ago it seemed like a good idea. Now it’s become an obligation not cheerfully fulfilled. This could be because of greater responsibility naturally assumed with experience. It could be because my regular work day is so much fuller as well. I am just tired.
Moan and Groan!
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Is it good news when it’s not as bad?

Is it good news when the news you get is not as bad as it could’ve been? I don’t know. They’re saying up to 100 homes were destroyed but the surge from the lake north of the City of New Orleans did not extensively overtop the levee.

It wasn’t one of the biblical plagues of Egypt, many people didn’t die, not so much because the storm wasn’t as bad as expected but because there was a mass evacuation.

Let’s see what it all looks like in the morning light.

My workday went to ten this evening. I expected it to go as late as eleven. I guess in a very minor way, this is good news because it isn’t as bad as it could have been. Why am I feel all sorts of East European all of a sudden?

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New Habits

Every morning I start up Firefox and open the tabs for email.

I have added the blogger page and the 21Portal page to this tab. This is to inspire me to make at least one blog entry a day. They may not be sophisticated, contain graphics and links, but at least they will hopefully guarantee a time line better than before.

The news this morning is Hurricane Katrina threatening my second favorite city. It’s been downgraded from a category 5 to a 3 but 100 mph winds still scare the hell out of me. We’ll see how the city does. Off to work...

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This was the first Sunday I have had off

In a long time.

I looked at my calendar last night and saw one blank day, today. I thought it was a mistake at first, but realized no one wanted a piece of me today. Of course, tomorrow I will start work at 7:00 a.m. and will probably work until 10:00 p.m.

There is balance in the world.

I discovered the 21publish site last night so that’s what took up much of my day. The good thing is I didn’t feel guilty at all for playing with it all day. It was like watching cartoons all day.

The whole day wasn’t wasted. The pool was repaired, the door to the dining room was fixed, a spontaneous lunch with the family from the Vineyard, Twelve Hawks’s Traveler was finished, but none of that was on the calendar. It was all spontaneous.

What a gas.
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21Publish About Page

Famous Grazing was started as an attempt to use every available blog publishing tool on the Internet. At the time of start up, the choices were limited to Blogger, Web Page, Live Journal and a few others. Now there are dozens.

This, our first site, Belltowernews.com. was started using Blogger when it was a private company and cost money. We then opened a Web Page site on our own server. Since then we’ve gone from b2Evolution to MSN Blogs. Examples are:

Field Grazing
Sea Grazing
Artistic Grazing
Grazing in Another Field
Butterflies Grazing
Dragons Grazing
Flickr Grazing
Ghosts Grazing
Grazed Bare
Grazing in the Brave Net
Grazing News
Random Space (MSN)
Multi-Grazing
Open Grazing
Other Grazing
Serene Grazing
Grazing at Xanga
Bell Tower News
Home Grazing

Each of the above is free. There are pay sites, and some of the above offer bigger storage and more features, but each of them is perfectly okay without shelling out a dime.

Below is a snapshot of a page created on a trial basis at at the pay site, TypePad:



Enjoy the blog you create here or at any of the above blog creation sites.
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FAMOUS GRAZING PORTAL!

We have opened a “portal” for the Famous Grazing Series.

It is over at 21Publish. We were playing around with a local Apache server when we came upon a comment about 21Publish. We set the portal up and created two personal blogs to fill out the set up.

If you feel like have your own blog affiliated with Famous Grazing, feel free to join. Any obnoxious or dangerous sites will be deleted.
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Firefox Yahoo Warning

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Click on the Whoops! to see the error message you get when you try to sign up for Yahoo!’s new photomail and use anything except MS Internet Explorer,
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Traveler Twelve Hawks

A reluctant review

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Traveler by John Twelve Hawks doesn’t warn you loudly that it is book one of the Fourth Realm Series. That could be because there is no book two, or three. It leaves you dangling.

(Spoiler Alert:)

As you approach ten to fifteen pages from the end, you realize there is no room for a neat ending. It must be either part of a continuing story, or the author is going to use the all too familiar arrival of the U.S. Cavalry. Here it was the former.

In most reviews I don’t give that much away, but I believe a fair warning, not already provided by the publisher, is needed before you buy this book.

By all means buy this book, though the book is short on sand, it certainly is a decent story worth reading. I hope the plot thickens for the second book, if it is coming. I will buy that one as well.

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G4 - Call For Help

G4 - Call For Help: "

Waterproof Your Gadgets Premieres: Monday 08/29, 11am ET / 8am PT
> Full Show Schedule

Sent from Firefox with JustBlogIt!

Sideblog

Amazing what one letter off can do.

I was going to my sideblog.com page when I left out the letter “b” and was taken to sidelog.com, a Nepalese webhosting service. Watch your step out there.
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If only there was someone on the other end.

The installation of Google Talk was seamless. I have restarted Google Desktop and all seems to be working out well. Now there only needs to be someone on the other end of the line with whom I can communicate to see how Google Talk is any different that Yahoo! Messenger or AOL or MSN or ICQ, etc. Trillian here we come!

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It has only been 85 years?

In this morning’s online NYT there was an On This Day feature imbedded in the story I was reading about Google Talk beta. (More on that later.)

Today’s issue mentioned it was on this date in 1920 the Constitution was amended to allow women the privilege of voting.

Think about that. Women in this country of the brave and the free have only been allowed to vote for 85 years.

This means there are people alive today who were alive when women couldn’t vote nationally. I know Montana and perhaps a few other states allowed women to vote and run for local offices, such as the school board, but they couldn’t vote for congressman, senator or the president.

Only 85 years. To quote myself 40 years ago, “that blows my mind!” It was something I knew in general, but to have it displayed as an aniversary for today brought it the front of the line.
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Google Sidebar starts off well, but...

It was disappointing to try Google Sidebar and not have as much fun with it as I did with Google Earth. Sidebar looked fine, it was easily configured and, for the most part, did everything it said it would do. Unfortunately, it also did something that wasn’t good. It shut down all of my Internet browsers. The sidebar itself looked things up with abandon, changed the news, checked the weather, popped up photos found in the “My Photos” subdirectory.

But, when I went to SnapfilesPro.com to write a review for it, I couldn’t get in. I checked everything, but the only way to get back online was to take the sidebar out of the startup folder.

I will try it again latter in the week under different configurations to see how it does. If I find a way to coexist with it, I will certainly return here and tell you how. My wide screen eMachines laptop certainly has room on the side for it.

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Google Earth is FUN!

Okay, this is something made for me. You can download it, use it all you want, as along as you know this was made for me. I love maps. Google Earth Software takes maps.google.com to another level.

This is the review I wrote for Snapfiles.com:

As a person who loves maps and going places, Google Maps is wonderful. The installation was faultless, and the interface is practically spiritual. I went to the small town where I was born on the Atlantic Seaboard and zoomed in on the house where we lived. I could see the milk truck behing the high fence. This program has layer upon layer. Go to San Francisco and click on the Churches box. I didn’t know there were that many churches in town. Need a pharmacy or gas station? This will not only show you where they are but what they look like. Can you tell I played with this one for a while? That’s why I say, have a lot of spare time before you install this.

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Malika and Chantea

See The Entry Below

Chanty Comes to Vist

This is Chanty. She‘s come up from Virgina with her mother to attend in Cambodian Water Festival being held this weekend in Lowell, MA.  Believe it or not, she‘€™s cuter than this photograph would have you believe.
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Happy Birthday Ally!

I was afraid I wouldn’t make in time to wish my dear friend Ally a Happy Birthday.

The good news is I got the system back up at 2335 and was able to get the message out before the holiday expired.

Now I am going to bed.
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Bad weather coming

You probably won’t get any more entries today. There’s bad weather coming and the river is rising.
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Blogger.com In House Photo Update

We haven’t used the blogger.com online editor in a while.

When we went online to correct a problem with Zoto.com and the ‘ key, we noticed an announcement that you can now upload photos using blogger.com’s online editor. We didn’t know that.

Of course, three isn’t any particular photo we would like to upload at the moment, so we’ll just pick one from the bunch: A church side window representing the rose.

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Bigoted News Coverage

A story reported in Yahoo News, which seems to have originated in Boston’s Channel 5 News has a line in it that reads:

"I lost my green card. I lost everything," she said.

Perhaps I am being oversensitive, but this line is telling me the author of the article wants me to know this building was occupied by non-citizen workers. I am sure the poor woman and the 41 other souls who where made homeless by the fire lost more than an easily replaced government document.

Later on in the piece the lines: "It had been termed incendiary. Arson has not been ruled out, but has not been deemed arson as of this time," DiLiddo said.— Officials are offering $5,000 for information that may lead to an arrest.“

Not a crime, but we’ll give you five grand if you can help us arrests someone anyway. Though it’s only a little local fire story, to the 41 people now without a home, it’s a big deal.

A little more care could have gone into the writing, or to put the blame where it belongs, the editing,.
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No More Noisy Box!

Having gone completely laptop, the trick is to learn the keyboard. If I practice enough, that should be no problem. I have XL hands that need to fit on this compressed space. Also, the keys outside of the alpha keys are not all in the same place as they were on my microsoft wireless.

The other thing I want to learn as well is the touch pad. It sits right where my palm normally sits and there fore, while I am typing the mouse arrow flies all over the screen.

Having Spell Catcher loaded is a big help. When I make a spelling error like capitalizing the first two letters, which I do on any keyboard, it automatically corrects it. This is true in all applications where I type, not only in Word.

Then there is that annoying Fn key where the Ctrl key should be. Everytime I hit it, it changes all of the keys on the right side of the keyboard into the number pad. To undo it.

I have to find another key over by the right side of the F-keys. It has replaced the caps lock key as the one I am most likely to tear our of the keyboard.

My hand also still leaves the keyboard to grab for the mouse and squeezes thin air. Once the hands learn the ropes, I hope that will end as well. The heat coming from the keyboard is a minor distraction for now, but if it gets hotter, I could see that being a problem. I bought an underside cooling rack which seems to be helping somewhat.

Okay, it’s time to study for the test. You will know when the test is close, the study will change to the word CRAM!

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Ann Looking at Martha

Don‘€™t mind me, once I find a new way to blog, I like to play with it for a while.
I know that can get boring to anyone foolish enough to read this blog. I see it like visiting the basement of a man who collects commode plungers, the fascinating thing is not the tool collection, but the fact that such a collection exists.
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Why is Zoto so easy?

It just seems to me that Zoto should be a bit more complicated.  It just does everything I want it to do too easily. That makes me nervous.  There should be more loops to jump through, more frustrations to suffer for this to be real.  I mean, if it keeps up being this easy to  use, than anyone can do it and I won‘€™t feel so special for having figured it out.
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Zoto button

Sometimes it’s easier to write...

Sometimes it’s easier to write when you think no one is reading what you write. Then you get an email complaining about your erratic postings. Even though you think most of what you’ve written is petty, complaining, or just mindless rambling, it’s a shock to think that people make it part of their daily routine to read it.

Jeneane Sessum mentioned this in her blog. I discovered it when doing one of my NEXT BLOG wanderings in blogger.

Another blogger selection I was reading almost daily was Boogie Street. Then in November of last year he announced he was going cold turkey and though not taking it down, he was no longer making any entries. He came back in January of this year to post a photo of a found child from the tsunami that hit southeast asia.

The author of Boogie Street calls himself Mr. Zip. He and I corresponded over one or two things regarding his art and the display of it on other web sites. He seemed a civilized human being.

Now it‘s time for me to get back to reading the news before going off to work for the man.
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Zoto GIF Conversion

Divide 1 by Seven, follow the numbers and then connect the numbers dividable by three.

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This was a test of the GIF conversion to JPG for uploading by the Zoto uploading program.  It works.
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Second Zoto Test

This is being blogged directly from the Zoto web site.  The one below of Andrew and his Jag was sent using Zoto‘s Gmail settings.  If there is a way to set the size of the photo blog display using the Gmail method, I haven’€™t seen it.  When sending the photo to Blogger using Zoto you have a choice between small, medium and large.  The image here is the small selection.
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Andrew and His Jag

Welcome To Freeport

Forgot to add the photo the last attempt at using Zoto. This should do it. This is the sign you see when you enter Freeport, Maine by boat. Freeport is the home of LL Bean! (As if you didn‘€™t know!) =30=

Testing Zoto Image Upload

This is being uploaded using Zoto instead of Hello!  I have tried Zoto before and it didn‘€™t work.  They are claiming it will work now.  This will be the proof!
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Old Logo

Obscene Comments on Bravejournal

The Famous Grazing page opened on Bravenet is the constant target of obscene comments. It is not a controversial blog, if anything it’s a blog with very little use. As with most Famous Grazing blogs it was opened to see how blogs are produced there and whether not this would be a recommended method of opening a blog. If you don’t mind all of the advertising, pop ups and constant barrage of sales pitches from Bravenet, it is free and there is a set of loyal fans in the community.

It’s just that because Bravenet is well known for reasons other than blogs, a lot of strange people go there to take advantage of the free services. There is a link to Bravenet on the side bar of this blog if you’re curious.

Off to the Salt Mines.
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Interesting Essay on NPR

Driving home in traffic this afternoon I was listening to NPR’s feature. “This I Believe.” The base line of the story was “Go to the funeral.” It was well thought out and made a good point about doing the right thing. The words that struck me were when she said in everyday life it’s not a conflict between Evil and The Right Thing, but a more mundane The Right Thing or Nothing. Very wise.
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RIP

Rest in Peace Peter.
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So that’s why I don’t listen!

This Report in Yahoo! News tells of why men don’t hear women when their talking. Good Lord! I thought I was just going deaf!
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As you can see, not only is Bell Tower News back up, but I�ve gotten the Picasa untility Hello! to work again.
You may have noticed a lacking of graphics attached to entries. That was because Hello! wasn‘t working for me.
I downloaded the latest version and now it�s even easier to post photos to the blog.=30=

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This is Admiral Peary‘s house on Eagle Island in Maine. You can only get there by boat. If you are interested in history and like a nice boat ride, it is worth a visit. =30=

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Profile Photo

I am trying to make this picture my profile picture but blogger is insisting it doesn‘t exit on my server. I thought if I uploaded it here, I could find a way to make it my profile image, 

The Good News!

Okay, we’re back in business. I will probably be tweaking this set up quite a lot when I find the time but it’s good to see Bell Tower News back in action. Though I will probably spend more time at Field Grazing, which resides on a server of my own, this is still the rood Famous Grazing blog so it will be kept up to date. The archives here are worth visiting for the photos alone. Though I haven’t posted many photos here for a while, I intend for that to change as the blogging season grows near.
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First attempt to Bloggar the changed Template.

All of the entries made so far since the change in template have been made through the Blogger web site. This will be the first test run posting using w::bloggar 4.0
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Still Dropping Down?

Just checking to see if Blogger has fixed that top bar problem"=30="