Why is
this man
smiling?
Despite the clouds of gloom that sometime darken my everyday dog-eat-dog world, times do exist in which the sun is shining and all seems right with the world. That days is here my friends.
If you are one of the regular readers of this blog (Suzie and Sally)then you will know that I have not been in love with Attorney General Alberto “VO-5” Gonzales. When I heard the news this morning that Gonzales is bailing the sinking ship of state, I almost wept with joy.
My annoyance, distaste, disapproval, dislike, pick one, of Gonzales does not just stem from the fact that he is a principal among the bad actors who have managed to dismantle the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But it is a big reason among others.
Although perhaps not as dangerous to civil liberties but just as unpleasant was how Gonzales presented himself. Certainly the attorney general was not a lovable figure whom you would want to hug or buy a beer. An example is how he sat before congressional hearings earlier this year with, at least what appeared to be, a perpetual smirk on his face while obfuscating until the cows came home. It made him come across like the archetypal weasel lawyer for whom all the lawyer jokes emanate.
However, deeds, or misdeeds, speak louder than looks. We may not know for a very long time or perhaps ever the extent that Gonzales jeopardized civil liberties in this country. Then again it might not be too long. We may be well aware of his damage when the cops come pulling you out of your home without a warrant.
But for now, Rove and Gonzales gone. Let’s party.
It has been quite some time since I wrote about the subject of manure. At one point in my journalistic career, I wrote countless articles and won a few awards for scribbling oodles of words about s**t, particularly cow dung. While I hope one day to make my mark in the greater world as a writer, it is likely that at least I will get one of those obits fired across the airwaves which extol the fact that I quite possibly wrote more about manure than any other Texas newspaper reporter during the early 21st century. Perhaps a cowpie would be an appropriate statue to accompany my tomb.
While I joke about my modest contributions to the general public’s understanding of how agriculture waste can result in detrimental consequences to “navigable” streams, there was always one fellow whom I could call and get the straight poop (oh give me a break!)on animal manure. That man was Dr. Saqib Mukhtar of Texas A & M University.
Saqib, from what I found in dealing with him, was a well-grounded academic who had the requisite sense of humor for one specializing in the subject matter of cow, chicken and other types of farm animal s**t.
Now, Saqib has a new publication out, according to “Ag News” from the Texas A & M Extension Service. While it is unlikely to make the top Amazon sellers or become a major motion picture, one is likely after reading the publication to come away with better knowledge of helping “plan manure management systems and assess physical, chemical (plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) and the heat content of animal waste … ” If that’s your type of thing.
For me, I just had to write about the subject of manure once more. Old habits are hard to break.
Perhaps Major League Baseball needs to consider a mercy rule after the Rangers posted 30 runs in their win against Baltimore.
Every now and then I like to take a look at my stats from StatCounter. It isn’t that the 22,467 hits EFD logged since first bursting onto the blog scene in April 2005 are particularly impressive. Rather, I like to get a general idea of who is reading. I can discern this information from the “Visitor Paths” feature of my Web counter as it posts information such as:
n219077034095.netvigator.com (Pccw Limited) [Label IP Address]
Hong Kong (sar), Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 0 returning visits
Date Time WebPage
21st August 2007 08:44:18 www.google.com.hk/search?complete=1&hl=zh-TW&q=eight feet dog&meta=
eightfeetdeep.blogspot.com/2005/07/hijacked-by-gangstas.html
The above lists a computer’s IP address, where the server is located, the date, time, how the reader got to this page (such as via Google in this case — looking for “eight feet dog”)and the particular page of EFD that was viewed. The number of return visits is also listed in this particular table.
It is fascinating for what subjects people search. Here are some searches currently on my Visitor Paths page:
” … trish murphy concession stand lyrics … “
” … STEVENS AND PRUITT … “
” … Stevi Perry … ” (a frequent favorite)
” … bishop lekganyane … ” (a favorite among searchers in southern Africa)
” … tropical depressing erin … “ (Well, yes it was downright depressing for some)
Also of interest from my Web counter over the past five days:
Percentage of hits from the countries of EFD visitors followed in ( ) by number of hits during this time period.
85.92% United States (61)
4.23% Canada (3)
2.82% New Zealand (2)
1.41% South Africa (1)
1.41% United Kingdom (1)
1.41% Austria (1)
1.41% Hong Kong (1)
1.41% Unknown (1)
Web browsers used:
58.00% MSIE 6.0 (Microsoft Internet Explorer for the geekless)
37.00% MSIE 7.0
4.00% Safari 1.2
1.00% Safari 1.0
Now if StatCounter can only tell me which visitors are likely to send me big piles o’ cash then what more would a blogger want?
