Archive for the ‘Interesting’ Category

animal testing

I learned something interesting at work last week while reading a brochure. You know how some cosmetic companies label their product as not tested on animals? Well, what this really means is that they bought the product formula from someone who has previously tested that formula on animals. Or else they created the product from ingredients that have been previously tested on animals. So while they might not have tested their actual product on animals, the components of the product were tested on animals. The FDA requires that all cosmetic, toiletry, and fragrance products and their ingredients be tested for safety, otherwise they have to have a label on them saying that the safety of that product has not been tested.

photos

Taken from Krissy’s LJ:

Think of 3 pictures you’d like to see. Things around my house, or whatever… something I can take a picture of easily. Once I have enough requests, I’ll start posting them. If I can’t, or won’t, take a picture of something you’ve requested, I’ll let you know.

state meme

ones that apply to me are bolded. ones that are repeats from a previous one I did were deleted. comments are in [ ]s.

You Know You’re From Pennsylvania When…

You’ve never referred to Philadelphia as anything but “Philly.” And New
Jersey has always been “Jersey.” [I often call Philly "Philly" but I never call New Jersey "Jersey"]

You refer to Pennsylvania as “PA.” [If I'm typing I do]

“You guys” is a perfectly acceptable reference to a group of men & women. [and to a group of just women]

You know how to respond to the question “Djeetyet?” (Didyoueatyet?)

You learned to pronounce Bryn Mawr, Wilkes-Barre, Schuylkill, Bala Cynwyd, Duquesne, New Tripoli, Tunkhannock, Punxsutawney, Tamaqua, Susquehanna, Allegheny, and Monongahela. [I've only heard of 6 of them...brin mar, wilks bar, school-kill, pucks-a-tawny, sus-kwah-hanna, al-a-gainy]

You know what a “Mummer” is, and are disappointed if you can’t catch at least
highlights of the parade.

You own only three condiments “A-1, Heinz 57 and Heinz ketchup”.

Words like “hoagie”, “crick”, “chipped ham”, “sticky buns”, “shoo-fly pie”,
“pierogies” and “pocketbook” actually mean something to you. [mom always says pocketbook]

One of the highlights of your life was a field trip to Penn’s Cave and Horseshoe curve. [actually, that's pretty much the only cave in most of PA and VA I haven't been to...but I always wanted to]

You know exactly what to do when your mother tells you to “red up” your room.

You know the time and location of every “wing night” in a 20 mile radius. [not really on purpose...I hear and see them advertised all the time]

You don’t think people from Philly or Pittsburgh talk funny. [they talk funny?]

You don’t understand all the hype about Rolling Rock beer;
You’ve been drinking it for years even though Iron City is better.

You consider an exotic vacation to be a trip to Ocean City, Virginia Beach,
or Myrtle Beach. [this is only partly true...I considered Myrtle Beach to be one when I was a kid]

You think very little of an Amish buggy on the road. [I wouldn't say I think very little...I think 'how annoying']

You learned long ago how to “step carefully” around the buggy tie-ups in the
supermarket parking lot.

You can go 2 weeks in winter without sunshine and think this is normal. [it's not?]

You know that Blue Ball, Intercourse, Climax, Bird-in-Hand, Virginville,
Paradise, Mars, and Slippery Rock are all PA towns.

There is no such thing as a “Philly Cheesesteak”.
It’s just called a “Cheesesteak.”

You know that Eucre is a card game and not a form of vomiting.

Your turkey has “filling,” not “stuffing,” and most certainly, NOT “dressing.”

Know that Yuengling is pronounced “Ying-ling,” and believe
that it really is a premium beer [*]

You know that a green pepper is not a pepper at all but a “mango”.

You live within two miles of a plant that makes potato
chips, corn chips, pretzels, candy, or ice cream, or
that packages turkeys, beans, or bologna.

You know that chicken corn soup from a fire house is
the most nearly perfect food on earth.

You say things like, “Outen the lights,” “I’m calling
off today,” and “They’re calling for snow.”

You’ve heard of distelfinks and hex signs.

You know the Penn State cheer, and although you’ve
never attended Penn State, you are a most obnoxious
Penn State fan.

Hearing horses clopping down a paved street doesn’t
bring you to the window to see what’s going on outside.

You never see any Confederate Flags, except on the
Gettysburg Battlefield.

You have the Rolling Rock bottle memorized: “From the
glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe, we tender this premium
beer for your enjoyment. . . . ”

Elect pro-life Democrats and pro-choice Republicans
for Governor

Frequently go “with,” e.g., “You going to the market?
Mind if I come with?”

Refer to something as “a whole nother,” e.g., “That’s a
whole nother issue.”

You REALLY HATE antiquers. On Sunday mornings you would
scream “Go back to Jersey!” at least once on the way to church.

When you were a kid and somebody really pissed you
off, you said, “I’m gonna deck you!”

You know the expression, “Hey naw! Watchya dewin’?”

You know where to buy “Opera Fudge” and that it has
absolutely no connection to the Opera.

The only Jewish people that you’ve ever met have been
from New York or New Jersey. [very not true]

You love the Phillies (unless they stink) in which case
you love the Orioles (unless they stink) in which case
you solemnly swear that you’ve never even liked the
Phillies or the Orioles, but have always been a Penn
State fan.

* As Joe can confirm, for the past 6 months or so I’ve been on and off obsessed with being able to say Yuengling three times fast in a row. It usually comes out “Ying-ling” “ling-ning” “ning-ning”. Occasionally I can do it but very rarely. For a few months last year I was also unable to say “holy small cars” three times fast but I conquered that one. It would usually come out “holy smarl cars” or “holy smarkars”. I have no idea what that inital conversation was about that I was trying to say “holy small cars” in the first place.

weird

This has been a strange past hour. A little before 6 I left to go to my parents for dinner. The sky was getting pretty dark but I didn’t think much of it. We’ve been having lots of storms lately. Then, when I got to my parents, the sky was black. I thought I saw a cloud in the sky that was kind of…swirling. I didn’t think much of it at the time.

My parents had the news on, as usual. The whole half hour ended up being devoted to the storm. There was a tornado watch from about 5:45 till 6:45. They were calling for very high winds and very heavy rain. It was interesting watching the storm hit. The sky got even blacker and the wind really picked up. Then a minute later the rain just came pouring down.

We didn’t have any problems at my parent’s house, but there sure were problems elsewhere. They had viewer call-ins on the news. A tree went into a person’s house and the house caught on fire. Streets in Harrisburg were underwater and lots of stoplights were out. People reported several tornado sightings. One such tornado that they reported actually touched down a few miles from my parents. The tornado started to form pretty much the time I arrived at my parents, in the direction I was looking, so that swirly cloud might actually have been the tornado forming. I’ve never seen a tornado before or been near one. We hardly ever get tornados here. Tornados really frighten me. However, it was cool to possibly see one. Although at the time I saw it I didn’t think tornado since they’re so rare here. I just thought “ooh swirly cloud! neat!”.

The storm only lasted about a half hour, as storms tend to do. I left a different way than usual because the way I usually go often gets flooded when it rains (it’s under a railroad bridge and there’s a huge dip in the road there with no drains). It’s a good thing I did. The police had that part of the road blocked off. There was a car stuck in the water under the bridge.

I stopped at Borders on the way home. Mom had let me borrow money to get my book. There were two copies left on the table (of course they might have had more…) but I was pleased to see that it was selling well. I hadn’t been extremely excited about getting this book, even though I obviously wanted it. The last book had such a weird disturbed ending that I was left with a bad taste in my mind. But when I saw the cover, I mentally squealed and now can’t wait to read it, which I’m about to do in a few minutes.

site things

As you can see below, I decided to implement Photomatt’s Asides code. I created two different ones: one for sidetracks and one for photos. I only added the code to display a certain style based on the category. I didn’t really want it to rearrange the order of the posts. Maybe this will inspire me to post more photos. I also don’t plan to use the sidetracks just for links. I might also use it for short posts.

blog survey

(blog survey from nikkiana)

Ethics/Personal Life:
Has a blog post ever got you into trouble?
Not in trouble per se but I’ve had something happen that I wasn’t happy about. I’m referring to Joe’s mom finding out about our engagement before we told her through his sister reading my site. We were really upset about that because we had been waiting to tell her in person which was why we hadn’t told her already. I was also upset that she had been reading my site.

How many people do you know face-to-face who read your weblog?
Just Joe. And possibly his sister, but hopefully she’s stopped reading this. I just don’t feel comfortable having her reading this. I know it’s online for public display but I’m careful about not using my full name and only give the url to people I only know online. I really don’t want anyone other than Joe who I know in person reading this. And of course my online friends that I’ve met in person.

Do you modify or delete posts? How often? Why?
I modify all the time for grammer or spelling errors. I don’t ever delete posts. If I’ve just posted and forgotten to say something, I’ll add it, but otherwise I don’t add to posts.

How much is your weblog a part of your personal identity? Do you feel like people who don’t know about your blog don’t really know you?
I wouldn’t say my weblog itself is, but my websites as a collection are a big part of my personal identity. I spend so much time working on them that it’s bound to be. I don’t feel like people who don’t know about my blog (or sites) don’t really know me. My family doesn’t know about my blog or most of my sites and they definately know me.

How has blogging changed your life?
Not much really. Online journalling is what really changed my life. Most of my friends online are ones I made through journalling.

Technical/Design:
Do you know how to code at all? Did you learn how to code by blogging?
Considering I’ve had websites since 1996 and only been blogging since 2000, I’d say yes I know how to code and no, I did not learn by blogging.

What weblogging tool do you use and why?
I use WordPress because I feel it’s the best. I started out using Blogger, moved to greymatter, then to Movable Type, then to WordPress (for this weblog anyway). I’ve used pmachine and b2 for other weblogs elsewhere. I’ve also used livejournal and tabulas as well as deadjournal, parajournal, and ujournal. Livejournal was the only one I really posted in a lot. Ocassionally I’ll post there still, but prefer to post in my own weblog.

Is your design an integral part of your writing and presentation?
Design is very important to me (which is why I’m a digital design major). I don’t enjoy reading people’s weblogs who just have the default template. It’s just too generic. If a weblog has a good design, I’m more likely to read it. Which is why I try to make my design the best I can.

How many times have you changed your weblog design entirely (or nearly so)?
Well, I don’t change weblog designs. I change my entire site’s design. This is version 17 of this domain, which I started in October 1999. I often leave a design up for 3-5 months. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. I’ve had this design up since March 21 and have no idea when I’ll change it.

Readership/Motivation:
How many people would you guess (educated guess based on hit counts/logfiles) read your weblog on a weekly basis at least?
The average visitors per day is 144. I have no idea how many people actually read my weblog. I know of maybe 5 people who read it regularly. Hey, if you read this pretty often, comment and let me know!

What have you done to get more people to look at your site?
Nothing really. Most of the people who find my site that I don’t already know find it through links from friends or through google.

What one or two characteristics make a blog really popular?
Lots of readers ;)

What really popular weblog do you think most deserves it?
I don’t read any *really* popular weblogs.

Influence of Other Bloggers:
What other blogger is most responsible for you starting your own weblog?
I really can’t remember. It’s been a little over 4 years and have no idea who first out of my circle of journalling friends signed up with blogger. It was back when weblogs really were just weblogs and were links to interesting sites. Strange how weblogs evolved into a more personal nature.

Who was the first other blogger (that you know of) who put you on their sidebar?
No idea. Probably whoever of my friends was first to make a sidebar. Krissy maybe?

What other blogger do you most admire for their writing skills?
I admire every one of the people I read’s writing skills. I don’t read anyone who can’t write well.

What other blogger do you most admire for their design skills?
I admire everyone in that even if they don’t have the most spectular complex design, there’s always some little detail that makes their site theirs. I love how people evolve their own design style.

Who is a blogger you think is really good but doesn’t get nearly the attention they are worthy of?
All of the ones I read!

Do you feel obligated to link people who you never read?
Not really. I usually read everyone who links to me though so it’s not really a problem. My only problem is forgetting to update my links with new reads or urls. My current one is kind out of date.