Well there is this.

This is so sweet. This tough hockey guy had something in his eyes. A buddy of mine posted this to extended circles, so I am posting it publicly. I had found this right before I saw his post so, in some way something or other. I had the URL loaded ready to post when I saw his.

+The G+ DogPark

I thought it was very weak.

Go to your Circles tab and list the first ten people sorted by relevance (default). I think Google needs to work on the algorithm a little more. Here is mine:

+Kat B awesome hockey chick despite her fixation with the Red Wings.
+Melony Isaac a fun gal that posts some really dirty stuff if you get in her NSFW circle.
+Melissa Fisher yeah, we do not have much in common but I enjoy her posts for some reason. Just a down to Earth lady.
+Joyce Donahue she loves Doctor Who, shares my religion and lives near me.
+Pam Adger She is in my sports circle but she posts on all sorts of topics.
Are you noticing a trend here? All of them are female so far. What am I gay?
+Craig Newman He works for the Chicago Sun-Times, one of the three papers I subscribe to.
+Steve Quinn He posts amazing stuff mostly about design. He almost never provides a link much to my chagrin.
+Ryan Straight He is another Doctor Who fan. He also likes to post NSFW stuff if you are in his correct circle.
+Angela Rae Powerbeard She is a funny character that is a big pot head. I am not into that, but to each his own. She likes science fiction.
+Mark Richards He is into sports and science fiction as well.

I value all of the above as good virtual friends. Befriend them yourselves. They are all good people.

Hippie + hypocrite = hippocrite.  Sorry, but this is very accurate.

Just in time for the Detroit game. Look what was just given to me.

I may not have Google Glass but I can look equally ridiculous taping flashlights to my glasses.

So Doctor Who on BBCAmerica must be over now.  Did anyone else catch that they took the Williams name?  The Doctor always referred to them as the Ponds.  In fact when the Doctor first called Rory a Pond there was a discussion and Rory agreed that he was a Pond.

I found a new way to get the weather thanks to a friend here who posted it limited.

First period summary:

Scoring:

Bickell (CHI) at 3:05 (Bolland & Uduya)
Torres (PHX) at 8:52 (Doan)
Vermette (PHX) at 13:44 (Yandle & Okman-Larrson)

Penalties:

Vermette (PHX) for slashing at 1:08
Toews (CHI) for goalie interference at 12:06

SOGs: CHI 17, PHX 11

Stupid Crawford.

The joys of living across the street from a park 1/2 a mile from a ghetto... Park in front of your own damned place!

14-0-3.  Because there was some nonsense about the Hawks being tied for the best starting season ever they had to prove it.  That is how we do things in Chicago.

Blocked twice now for being honest about what I think about a book.  You two know who you are.  In 20/20 hindsight if you cannot accept criticism perhaps you should not write.  It is a tough field and not everyone will heap praise on you for a mediocre effort at a book.

My dog was going nuts in the backyard this evening so I went to investigate.  Sally thought that she found a new playmate.  In a near panic I threw my dog into the house and chased the opossum away.  Nasty rabies carrying pests.  I checked out my dog and she was not bitten.

Then there was one of my older dogs, a golden retriever, that I found running around the backyard with an opossum in his mouth.  I completely flipped out over that.

Honestly I think "tech. pundits" have too much invested in their Facebook and Twitter and do not like something different.  Hence them pooping all over it whenever possible.

Sloppy field and windy at Soldier Field.  Go Bears!

What are your opinions on the future of public libraries?  Those that know me well know that I am a big supporter of public libraries.  It seems to me that they are having a problem remaining relevant now though.  Just having books is not enough.  It seems that now they must become a sort of community center.  Internet access has increased traffic in libraries, but also attracts teenage boys looking for pornography.  Having rooms available where writers can speak and do a book signing thing is positive.  Renting out rooms for private meetings also happens where I live.  Then there is the e-book debacle.  Libraries are getting raped on this as it is very pricey.  And you have to go into the library to get the e-book.  

Below is pictured the main branch of my village's library (the stacks are on the upper levels).  

+Michael Pate +lynn paden 

Iran meet the 5th Fleet. 5th Fleet meet Iran.

Beer and Bacon Battered Deep Fried Doritos
The site takes a while to load as the servers are getting deep fried right now.
http://foodbeast.com/content/2012/12/10/beer-and-bacon-battered-deep-fried-doritos-youre-welcome-world/

"I voted for Barack because he was black. 'Cuz that’s why other folks vote for other people — because they look like them."

You have bigger problems if you listen to what actors, athletes, musicians, etc. have to say about politics of course.  

Waiting to see how many people uncircle me for this.

Who here cannot wait for the election to be done with?

+Matthew Hicks my Atari 2600 cartridge collection.

Is this the Browncoats Reunion everyone is talking about?

#Firefly  #BrownCoats

My big list of free places for ebooks for +Denis Thibeault and anyone else interested.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?ie=UTF8&node=133141011&ref=kw_store  Duh.

http://www.ebooksgood.com/free/amazon.com  An Amazon scraper.

http://www.epubbud.com/ Children's books mostly, but some adult stuff.  They are in epub format so convert them to .mobi for your Kindle using Calibre.

http://www.ereaderiq.com/free/  Another scraper.

http://ereadernewstoday.com/category/free-kindle-books/  Another scraper.

http://archive.org/details/texts  This is an awesome resource.

http://kindlefinds.com/  Another scraper.

http://www.gutenberg.org/  Of course.

http://www.smashwords.com/  I love Smashwords.  It is the shit.

Some that I just learned about and have not tried:

http://www.pixelofink.com/  Seems to be another scraper.

http://freedigitalreads.com/  Seems to be another scraper.

http://www.friedbeef.com/best-places-to-get-free-books-the-ultimate-guide/ This is a list of resources for free content.

http://freekindlefiction.blogspot.com/  Seems to be another scraper.

http://freezombiebooks.com/ This seems to be a zombie specific scraper.  I do not read zombie books.  Or vampire books.

Good book hunting!

A friend of mine took this picture a few blocks from my house.  That is not a dog.

Also, paper towel = kitchen roll, stove also = cooker, and cigarette = fag.  Anything else?

Chicago at Minnesota. This will be a huge win for the Hawks if the "good Hawks" show up.

Soap survey. Bar or liquid? Technically I think liquid soap is in a plastic state, but that is a different matter. I prefer the liquid as soap bars seem to be magnets for hair. Yeah, I do not care if you are a family member. Hair on a bar of soap is disgusting.

Do you people have a database for your books?  Note that unfortunately this is not my house (found picture on Beauty in Ruins).

While my house may closely resemble a library on the inside, it lacks the organization.  For the most part I know where the important books are, often I cannot locate a book that I know that I have.  At other times I discover that I have duplicate or even triplicate copies of books.  Then ebooks are another problem...  I cannot tell you how many times that I have bought an ebook that I forgot that I owned in paper.

Do you have any suggestions short of hiring a librarian to sort it all out (which I really cannot afford)?

+Sean Roan this one is better.  +lynn paden pointed this out to me.

Are we all ready? The slideshow with this video is a bit dated, but the song rocks.

The puck has dropped.  We have hockey again.  Here come the Hawks, the mighty Blackhawks.  L.A. should not even have a hockey team.  The only ice they know about is in their drinks.

I am going to make French toast in 1.5 hours.  Will this work?  Four parts eggs to one part milk.  A splash of vanilla extract.  Place the bread in a shallow bowl with the mixture.  Turn it over. Put the soaked bread onto a buttered skillet with a medium flame.  Brown it and turn it over.

Believe it or not I have never made this before and am craving it.  Tips on preparation are welcome here.

#SelfySunday Here you go +Pam Adger and +Laura Topliffe.  Me in the flesh.  My boobs are nice and I seem to have the "crazy eyes" here.  Why, yes, I am hairy on the chest as well, just not so grey there.

What do you say?  I say, "No."  For the serious reader such as myself I want either ink on paper or e-ink fore easier reading.  I do not care about playing games, going on the internet, watching, movies, or what not; I want to read.  But most people do not read as much as I do and would like an all-in-one device.  Therefore I predict the trend of slate sales increasing and e-book readers declining will continue.  There is enough of a market for people like me that the slates will not kill off the e-book readers--  they may become a niche item, but they will exist.  Well until the slates get color e-ink capable of showing video.  Those are my thoughts on this.  What are yours?

RESHARE:
+Beverly Rivera I do the 2600 thing as well.

Reshared text:
Yes. That is over 100 Atari 2600 cartridges. Who rocks? I do.

Apple Quiz:

What below did Apple invent?

1) The graphical user interface (GUI).
2) The mouse.
3) The MP3 player.
4) The smart phone.
5) A central place to download programs.
6) Tablet/slate computers.
7) Proprietary cables.
8) Speech recognition
9) High resolution displays.

Why on Earth would I want to do this?

Suggestions on a laptop for my mother please.

She likes the camcorder that I gave her and wants to edit the videos.  Mind you, just simple stuff like cutting the bad parts out of her movies, nothing fancy at all.  Today she asked me how she could do it on her computer and I  flat out said that she cannot.  She has I think a P4 with about 1 gig of RAM, not very good for editing HD video.

I am thinking maybe some Win 7 laptop with about 6 gig RAM, but I know next to nothing about video editing.  What software would she need?  Is Windows Movie Maker good enough?  If I set her up with Linux I have no idea what software to install.

There is a budget, so don't get all extravagant in your suggestions.  Thanks!

Let  us be very clear on things.  This is a map of North Africa.  This is not the Middle East.  Stop saying Libya is in the Middle East!

Parent trolls.

Really?

Right.  It is now Saturday where I live, or #Caturday.  I have received lots of criticism about my Caturday posts.  Some are constructive such as informing me that Saturday is the day to post pictures and not Tuesday.  Others are rather nasty.  People yelling at me that what I posted was a dog, a jellyfish, a baby hippo following along an aged tortoise, and an elephant fighting a crocodile.

So I think I finally figured out how this works.  A cat picture on a Saturday.

Am I doing this right?

So you want a new computer, do you?  I used to watch this show back in the day.

Did you know that I can pick up four analog channels on my TV?  I thought that you could no longer broadcast analog in America and everything was digital.  I found this out yesterday when I discovered that I could no longer get channel seven.  Remembering that they said something about moving to a new spectrum and having to rescan to get it I discovered this.  I also discovered about eight more digital channels, some of them good.  I pull in about 25 quality digital channels OTA, about 60 channels overall.

Does anyone see the problem with the Doctors?  None of them have any form of facial hair.  Why is this.  Does the Doctor have something against beards?  Now you may say that perhaps Time Lords are incapable of growing facial hair.  Pfui!  Some of the High Council had beards.  This omission needs to be addressed with the 12th Doctor.  How can a Time Lord go on living for 100's of years without having a beard or some form of facial hair.  It is ridiculous.

+Google+ Facial Hair Club 

RESHARE:
Don't blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink. Good Luck.

Now open to public viewing. If you are curious about Doctor Who this is the episode to watch.

Reshared text:

Query me anything. I am omniscient. And if I do not know the answer I will make up a believable one. Yes, I am this bored.

This is a "car."  This is the world's smallest street legal "car."  This looks terrifying.

Of course.

Best Thanksgiving clip ever.  And by the way turkeys can fly somewhat.

Phoenix Coyotes at Chicago Blackhawks. Game 4. Another OT? Has that every happened?

#sarahjane
#bantorres
#WinItForHossa

0-0 after one quarter.

This is messed up. That contact was not incidental? Screw you Shanahan! Game time!

+victoria kelley meet +Kat B you have some things in common:

Circling me.
Loving hockey.
Loving Patrick Kane.

victoria is a Sabres fan. Kat is a Wings fan.

OK, this is uncalled for, but funny.

Which companion are you?  This is a silly personality quiz.  G+ does not seem to want to use the link, so here it is:
http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2012/12/doctor-who-personality-quiz-which-companion-are-you/

I am Donna Noble and am OK with that.

#DoctorWho

I completely did not see that happening. That was my 15 minutes of fame I guess.

Please help me organize my circles properly. I have a lot of people stuck in my "temp" and "The Wheat" (separate the wheat from the chafe) circles. I have a lot more people that I have not gotten around to circling or not circling yet.

If you fall into any of these categories let me know with the number(s):

1) Science-Fiction & Fantasy-- fans of books and movies of those genres.
2) Sports-- only hockey, football, and baseball fans need respond to this.
3) Writers-- real writers. No offense to someone with a crappy blog, but I mean real writers. Unpublished aspiring authors are welcome as well. Damn, I sound like an ass there.
4) Media Types-- journalists and editors, etc.
5) Unix/Linux.

I have many other interests, but these are the ones that I am focusing on right now. Also, where the hell do I put non-news editors. Right now they are in "The Wheat." Perhaps lump them with Writers?

Thank you in advance for your anticipated and prompt consideration into the resolution of this matter.

Taking PC a little too far? As a bonus this is from Arizona.

It's go time biatches. Colorado at Chicago, live on WGN.

How the playoffs stand as of now.  I'm OK with this.  I would rather see Detroit in that 8th spot though.  Wow.  Detroit fighting for a playoff spot.

Good time for the fucking boiler to cease functioning.  Crap.

Vancouver at Chicago. Hanson puts one in 27 seconds into the first. Uh-oh.

Yes. That is over 100 Atari 2600 cartridges. Who rocks? I do.

What is it with Forbes and Doctor Who? That is one of the last magazines I would expect to report on Doctor Who.

I suppose it it too soon to post gun porn.  This is my baby.  It has some serious kick to it, so firing cowboy style is ill advised.

Uncircle me if you wish to.

Firearms are just tools in responsible hands.

18-0-3.  It was another tough win against the worst team in the NHL though.  Bring on the Red Wings come Sunday I say.

American woman:  "I cannot keep our plans for the weekend.  I was called into work."

British guy:  "You can't!"

American woman:  "What did you call me?  That is it.  This is over."

Get it?

Don't worry.  The kids are safe.  The thermometer has been contained.

Whatever you are doing stop and turn on NBC NOW!

+lynn paden I love Firefly for Kaywinnet Lee Frye (Kaylee).

Would it kill a company to throw in a two dollar HDMI cable after I just spent several hundred dollars buying something?  They never do include it.

+Brian Kump I told you that I have a head start with the playoff beard.

The decision has been made.  I am officially abandoning this franchise.  When I saw Episode IV as a child I thought it was the greatest thing ever.  That is until Episode V came out which was even better.  Yeah, I ignored the  gay droids.  Episode VI was pretty decent but I really wanted to skewer the Ewoks and roast them over a pit.  Then came the new re-releases of the movies which annoyed me to no end.  And then, well let us pretend that the prequels never happened.  When Disney bought Lucas Films I thought there might be a new hope (get it?).  Then Disney said that they want to release three movies per year.  So much for quality over quantity.

Screw this.  I am done with Star Wars.

When was the last time that you saw a bicycle rider ticketed?  My guess is "never."  I say bicyclists are for the most part smug jerks that think that they are above the law.  True, they do have the same right to the road as motorists do.  You know what else?  The same laws apply to bicyclists.  Just because you are on a bicycle does not entitle you to do whatever you want and generally be a menace.

Also unless you are a hot chick you should probably not wear those spandex shorts.

And you did not believe me about my awesome 2600 collection. I found this collection in my parent's basement after it flooded (that is why some of the labels are replaced). They all work, as do my joy sticks and paddles.

Los Blackhawks en Anaheim juego se encuentra ahora a mis amigos hockey.

Just be thankful that I did not post this in erse or Cantonese.

Via +Thomas Jones 

+Daniella Ayala whoever said fedoras on chicks is not sexy is full of it.  This is River Song (Alex Kingston) in Doctor Who.

The latest controversial game for children to play is Hide and Seek.  Oh for f's sake.  What is wrong with everyone?

I was just thinking that the Doctor Who theme needed more Tesla coils.

This just in: Mike Milbury is a prick.

+Lou Gagliardi & +Jason Walters I assume you heard about this already.

Myth Busted

It seems that not all fat men are jolly.  Yesterday I was walking down a sidewalk and this big ball of a man came ambling by.  He was round enough that I thought I could push him down a snow covered hill and create the world's biggest snowball.  Mind you this was a full width city sidewalk and not one of those narrow suburban walks.  I did my best to avoid him, walking sideways, but our shoulders touched.

Then the row ensued.

He flipped around faster than I thought was possible for a fat man to do and inquired with a raspy voice as if he had smoked ten cartons of cigarettes that day what my problem was.  His tone was not a friendly one--  I would describe it as hostile.

Calmly explaining that I did my best to avoid him as he was waddling down the middle of the sidewalk did not alleviate the tense situation.  Then I appealed to the rules hoping that this hippo of a man appreciated the unspoken but holy rules of encounters.

I said, "While you have a big belly, you do not have a beard.  I have a very big beard and the beard always has the right of way."

He felt shame and tried to make restitution by offering me his first born child.  No deal.  I just held my head up high and my beard walked me away.

True story...

My sad childhood.  We were poor, real poor.  Hold on, there is something positive coming out of this.  My friends had these huge Star Wars ships and lots of figures.  I had three figures (Darth Vader, a Tusken Raider, and Hammerhead).  My friends had lots of micronaughts and ships.  I had two figures that I had to use with my sad Star Wars figure collection.  My friends had lots of Hot Wheels and those orange track things.  I had five cars.  My friends had tubs full of Legos.  I had some knock off that would not work with Lego.  My friends had bb guns.  I had a slingshot that I made myself (my weapon was way deadlier, but not as cool).  My friends had model railroads.  I had a sad windup tin train that my Japanese neighbor gave me because he could not take all of his stuff back to Japan.

What I did have was a mother taught me to read at a very early age.  All of the children that mocked me for my shabby clothes and lack of toys I showed up in school when the teacher would ask us to read a sentence.  My friends would sound out the words taking about five seconds for a simple sentence.  Not me.  For that I am grateful.

Valentine's Day.

A conversation I had today:

After general chit-chat about nothing of substance I say, "Well there is the Blackhawks at Colorado tonight."

"Hockey?"

"Yes."

"Do they still have the Indian head on their jerseys?"

After a pregnant pause, cocking me head sideways like a confused puppy, and narrowing my eyes, I ask, "So, are you new to the city?"

She thought maybe it went away because it was offensive.

That is dedication.  The lady was in labor and refused to leave the game.

Useless but cool maps.  I love maps.

We have our playoff bracket now that the last game is over after rescheduling thanks to Boston going all martial law.  +Pam Adger am I annoying you yet?

+Julie Murray this is a better picture.

My neighbors share a driveway with me halfway up the lot.  One of their frequent guests I found having car troubles when I returned from walking my dog.  Since I am a nice guy I offered to help and asked what is wrong.  She said, "It won't start."
"What happens when you turn the ignition key?"
"Nothing."
"It is probably a dead battery.  I can charge it for you."
She did not even know how to open the hood, but I got her on her way and she said nary a "Thank you."

This is the second time that I did this for people.  Maybe I should just stop being nice.

I hate to say it but I am not a fan.  Tonight I tried to read three of his books and had to stop because I found them absurd.  The first was Good Omens, the second Neverwhere, and the third was Coraline.  And yes, I know that being a Doctor Who fan I should be able to handle the absurdity.  And yes, I know Neil Gaiman did write a Doctor Who episode and is writing another one.  I guess I am just very picky about what I read and not so much about what I watch.

What was his best book?  I will give that a shot.

Apparently asking if I should order some back up gyros in case the turkey does not go over well was not a wise thing to ask.  Who knew?

Like this +Angie Person?

#OverlyAttachedDoctor

I am  thinking about changing my profile picture and putting a sticker on my car so as to advertise to the world that I am a man that cares about things.  That will make the world better I think.

This is outside my house.  As I am egocentric my first thought was that they wanted to interview me about something or other.  Nope.  It appears to just be a broken down satellite news van.