PETA might not be laughing but I am over this blogger who is writing angry, accusatory posts to “cute animals” like penguins, wombats, puffin hoaxes, goats (cute?) and enough other animals to make even Dr. Doolittle envious. Yes, even reindeers, sorry Santa.

All this fun is happening under a blog with the profane title to match the often profanity-laced postings. A less profane sample:

You know, Wombat, all I do is love you. But is that good enough for you? No, you have to look at wombats in magazines and ask, "Why can’t I look like that?" Well, I’m not here to boost your ego, I’m here to have a life with you. SO STOP FISHING FOR COMPLIMENTS, WOMBAT.

Doubtful that Wombat will be subscribing to this RSS feed, but I did.  Having seen and read all kinds of different blogs, this one stuck out. This is a good example of what new blogs need to do to get noticed in the sea of blogs out there.

Bza, now go get your own domain and give Blogger the boot, I’m betting the FU Penguin dot com is available or some clever variation.

Time to put my prediction powers to the test. I’ve been a Bears fan for some time and it would be unholy for me to pick against them.

I think it’s going to be a rough road for them, but they are going to prevail. I don’t have any idea what the score will be but I’ll predict it will be within 10 points, how’s that?

I’m a home team fan and really wish the Seahawks were there, but next to them I like da Bears and Packers. I know it’s strange to be a fan of both the Bears and Packers, but I never claimed to be the most normal two legged creature on the planet.

While here I had a few other Hmm quickies like posts that I’ve just tacked onto here. Where applicable, how much time did you spend looking for your domain name?

Good domain names still available
Deb from Another Unfinished Symphony (Hmm first link) stopped by and writes about Hmm:

You knew there just HAD to be a website somewhere!) My HMMMmmm’s had nothing to do with that. But it cracked me up that someone has a website (and that they bought a domain name to do it??? hilarious!

I thought the same thing back in 2003 when the domain was still available. Proof that there are lots of good domains still available out there. I wonder what other cliches can be registered? Thanks for stopping by Deb.

Add pictures to most of your posts
You’ve probably read this advice many times, but do you follow it?

Hmm reader and buddy darkmoon has started adding pictures to his blog. He blames this new image thing on me, but I think it’s his conscience. Recently I shared with him that adding pictures to blog posts can increase reader interest, curiosity and ultimately subscriber count.

I know when I’m looking at 50 posts in my RSS reader the ones that have pictures stick out. You don’t have to put images (or audio and/or video) in every blog post, but I’d recommend doing it in most of them. Speaking of darkmoon and pictures, Friday he slayed the Sentinel.

Update 3:40pm PST: How about that the Bears come out swinging with a kickoff return for a TD and then get an Peyton Manning interception. Bears 7, Indy 0, oh yeah! I’m curious how others are enjoying the Superbowl? For us, despite our six televisions, it’s still a TV-less zone here.

I’m listening to the game on Sirius Satellite 124. How are you enjoying the Superbowl (or are you even watching it)? Anybody going even less tech than me and checking the scores page on nfl.com or using a score widget?

3:50pm PST: Ouch. The Colts answer but do not get the extra point.

They recovered a fumble on the return too inside the Chicago 35 yard line but then coughed it up on the first possession. It sounds wet, even through the radio. One interception, two fumbles and it’s still the first quarter. The Bears are driving and in the red zone of Indy.

3:58pm PST: Bears score another TD and the extra point is … good!

4:25pm PST: Four turnovers in the first half of the game so far and Indy drives down and successfully lands a field goal, bringing them within 5 points of the Bears.

4:39pm PST: 12 unanswered points by Indy puts them in the lead over the Chicago Bears. As the Colts are settling down they are taking control of the game. Would be nice to see the Bears go down and get a field goal or another TD, going in up a few points at half time. There are six minutes left in the half.

4:57pm PST: 36 yard field goal attempt by the Colt’s Adam Vinatieri two seconds before half time is up … and no good! The Bears go in only 2 points down. They iced Vinatieri before the field goal and it worked. First half score still 16 - 14 Colts.

I hear that Prince is coming out for the half time festivities and will be playing guitar. Perhaps a little old school Purple Rain action? Wonder if Sirius will have that or if that will only be on TV …? Will find out shortly.

5:44pm PST: A very tiny bit of Prince was shared on Sirius but it was mostly talking heads garbage. So much for streaming the rocker. The Colts scored another field goal putting them up by 5. Come on Bears, don’t let all the momentum go Indy’s way.

5:56pm PST: Another field goal by the Colts makes it an 8 point game. Only two touchdowns in this game so far, the Bears need to start driving. The Bears have good field position with an unnecessary roughness penalty and start at the Indy 40 yard line. They better come away from this with at least a field goal.

6:06pm PST: Robbie Gold punts one up through the uprights against the wind, getting the Bears back on the board and breaking the Colts flow. Now they just need to hold, get the ball back in good field position again and score again.

6:22pm PST: A costly Bears turnover resulted in a touchdown for the Colts but the red flag was thrown to challenge if the Colts player went out of bounds before scoring. Result? Did not go out of bounds. Colts make the extra point and go up by 12. It’s getting late, only 11:44 remaining in Superbowl 41. Still enough time in that soupy Miami weather to get it done, but the Bears need to be flawless from here out. Bears start their drive …

7:00 pm PST: It’s over. The Bears couldn’t mount another score and fall to the Colts. So much for my predictions, eh? Wrong on both guesses. Score separating was more than 10 points and it wasn’t the Bears who won. Guess you see why I’m not a professional prognosticator. The Bears just didn’t get any momentum after the first quarter.

Final score: Colts 29 - Bears 17.

Congratulations to the fans and players of the Colts, the city of Indianopolis and Indy coach Tony Dungee.

It’s easy to forget sometimes how wonderful the internet can be for senior citizens like Don Crowdis from Canada, age 93, who blogs at Don To Earth. Before the internet, seniors were much more limited in their ability to share with the world their wealth of personal experience and knowledge outside of traditional print media. Sure, they could keep a diary or scrapbook, but the primary benefactor of these treasured memories would be family.

In a recent post that made del.icio.us popular — congrats Mr. Crowdis — he describes how he doesn’t want to leave this earth yet:

For too long I have behaved as if I could postpone going indefinitely, and thus have so many things that I must do first. I don’t want my successors to find out how much I could have done that isn’t done, not by a long shot. There are numerous notes and letters I must write. There are places I’ve wanted to travel, but never had the chance. Actually, each of you can, if you think yourself into my age, fill out the list.

I wonder how many even have a list of the things they want to do? Sites like 43 things can help.

If Mr. Crowdis and I were talking face to face I’d say something like: ahh, but there have been places in time you have been that others like me cannot visit. Like back to the time when the Twilight Zone was running (before I was born). And what about the gangster and depression time when bootleggers ran hooch? Maybe Hollywood has glorified some of these times in history, but people like Mr. Crowdis actually lived through these times in history. As they depart this earth, off goes these memories with them … unless they save them somewhere.

Perhaps it is more difficult for seniors to physically visit the places they still want to see today, but they can visit virtually with tools like Google Earth. Seniors can use the internet to talk to people from these places they want to visit or who have visited there and experience the place through their eyes. There is still time for that, Mr. Crowdis. Don’t even need to buy a plane ticket or gas or even get dressed.

Mr. Crowdis’ post also reminds me of why I would like to retire in my 50’s. Not sure if my wife is down for that plan, but I hope she will be. That means we have roughly 15 years left to save enough money for retirement. Even if we don’t meet our financial retirement goals in time, I still would like to have a good 10+ years before the government says “you’re officially retired” to travel the world and see the places I haven’t seen.

Never been outside the US, Canada and Mexico and there is too much of the world I’ve yet to experience and explore firsthand. I suspect my travel-related writing will increase exponentially in my yearning years. And just for the record, the day I retire from writing is the day my heart stops beating. I don’t really consider writing ‘work’ and never will. I don’t believe it’s possible for writers — people who really have it in their blood and can’t stop — to ever retire from something they love.

That doesn’t mean this blog will continue on until I die, but my writing will always continue on somewhere. I still have millions of words written that deserve to be shared with others someday in some form. MakeYouGoHmm is kind of like the Star Trek Enterprise, on a five year mission. After those five years are up, maybe the mission continues, maybe not. Ask me now and I’m leaning towards continuing on because I’m having a great time, ask me in a year and who knows? We’ll all find out what happens on July 4, 2008.

I realize my time, just like Don, is limited on this earth, so I want to make sure it’s utilyzed accomplishing as much as I can on my list of things to do as possible. Every year I try and start at least one new major project and this means that every year I must also look at ending, reducing time spent on, or selling away at least one past major project. It’s all how the sands in the hour glass are distributed.

There are things I’ve yet to do that would be more difficult to complete with my current work schedule, so retirement will afford me the luxury, health willing, to get those things done. Those 10 or so years I will also complete most, if not all, the travel-related goals I have in life. If I die before that time, then I’ll have few regrets. I’m not that excited about travel, to be honest, but it’s something I would like to do more of in the future. Also, I believe there are plenty more travel possibilities beyond death.

What about you, if you die tomorrow will you have that many regrets? There’s no telling when our number comes up. I’m pretty happy with life the way it has turned out so far. Got a great family with three healthy teens and a wonderful wife, own two good businesses, a few good friends (never have enough good friends though), own and operate some busy websites, several millions words written and shared and a couple million boxed for the future. The way I see it, I’m a 78 year old man in a 38 year old body. If this should be my last post ever (hope not of course), I’d be OK with that.

How about you? If a comment left below was your last comment written in the world, would you be OK with that? Don’t want that to happen to anybody of course, even my greatest antagonists. I’m curious.

If I can make it to the fine age of 93 and especially if my wife is there with me (one of my concerns admittedly because nobody in her family has lived very long), I’ll be very happy. I hope Mr. Crowdis continues to share the wealth of travels and experiences with others on his blog. Heck, fire up the webcam, and talk to us as well. We’ll watch, listen and learn.

Looking over my past and current reading lists I’m somewhat embarassed not being subscribed to any senior bloggers. Now I am. Any other good senior bloggers readers can recommend? Any senior blogger readers want to recommend your own blogs, go right ahead below.

I like the concept behind Giveaway of the Day which is to offer a new deal every day where you have a limited amount of time to download and install the full registered program, not a crippled or trial only software. This is good promotion for the site, visitors and for the software developer. In most cases I’m seeing the registered version being offered is an upsell to a pro version and/or is a non-commercial license with no technical support offered. Because the programs won’t work if you don’t install them the same day you download it forces people to at least install the software to take advantage of the deal. Today’s deal, for example, is for a text editor that regularly costs $35 USD.

The about page explains:

We will pay the software publisher for the Giveaway license, and our visitors will only receive those after downloading a special verification program and agreeing to the Terms and Conditions, thus protecting software publishers’ interests and making our initiative beneficial for both clients and publishing companies.

For fellow gaming fans, they recently launched a sister site Game Giveaway of the Day which does the same thing, but focuses on games.

Simple premise that is mutually beneficial for site visitors, site owner and webmaster. Subscribed to both. As long as these programs aren’t virus, spyware, adware or malware-laden, these sites will do well. People love deals.

Talk about a meltdown. Perhaps my favorite part is the commentary at the end of the video. I laughed out loud with the commentator saying it was “beautiful playing of Amazing Grace by a Bagpiper.”

I know this was intended to be a touching tribute and it’s inappropriate to make jokes over something at a ceremony like this, but the bagpiper … well, just watch the video and you decide. It’s hard not laughing. Bagpipers everywhere doth protest!

Thanks Macenstein, who is one of my new 2007 subscriptions, BTW.

Although we have six television sets including two HDTV (max resolution 1080i) in our home, we’ve been without TV service (cable, satellite, over the air) for almost 200 days. This has saved us hundreds of dollars in monthly subscription fees and has gotten me thinking about what type of video content I’d be willing to pay for.

Even though I don’t speak any language other than English fluently I totally groove on the YouTube clips being highlighted on the TV in Japan blog. It is my first third party resubscription in 2007 and the video below shows why:

Pac-Man is my most favorite classic video game of all time and I’ve covered videos of that yellow pill popping guy [Hmm search for pac-man] like a true Pac fan.

In order for me to resubscribe to TV, it would need to have creative content like the TV in Japan blog (resubscribed ) is highlighting. Maybe I’ve just become bored with American television? What’s on TV now that you can’t get online? And I don’t mean illegally. I don’t download TVs or movies illegally, we buy or stream them legally either online or in the store.

What TV shows and/or channels do you consider worth paying for? Which ones couldn’t you go without in your household?

Of the many different ways to express RSS and podcasts tonight I came across the image above at netaddiction.com. A pair of headphones surrounding the new style RSS icon. Simple, yet effective. I like.

As for the website, they treat the following ‘problems’: Chat Rooms, Cybersexual Affairs, Cybersex Addiction, Cyberporn Addiction, Chat Room Addiction, Obsessive Role Play Gaming, Compulsive Online Gambling, eBay Addiction and Compulsive Surfing.

eBay addiction? Is this spending too much time bidding on stuff one doesn’t want, need and/or can’t afford? Would have been nice to see the problems linked to definitions. Yes, most of them are obvious, but for a site that promises recovery, shouldn’t they define what the problems are? In fact, the FAQ section does define all of the conditions, including eBay addiction:

In more serious cases, eBay addicts feel a sense of accomplishment when they discover they are the highest bidder and begin to bid on items they don’t need just to experience the rush of winning – sometimes to the point that they go into financial debt, take out a second mortgage, or even go into bankruptcy just to afford their online purchases.

Yes, that would indicate a problem The site offers an auction addiction test.

Curious, I took their internet addiction quiz of which I scored the following:

34. You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage.

I diasgreed with the context of some of the questions and why were there checkboxes for all the answers? Anybody who seriously checked multiple answers for most the questions like “How often do you feel depressed, moody, or nervous when you are off-line, which goes away once you are back on-line?” needs much more than internet recovery. It simply isn’t logical for a person to be able to answer with more than one answer.

I vote for adding question #21: “How often do you view internet forms and wish the right type of checkbox or radio button control was used?”

In all seriousness, one of our businesses is on the web and the other requires us to process a lot of official business through the web so we spend a lot of time proportionally on the web. The web isn’t an addiction, though, which I suppose some might point to and declare as some kind of denial. We are 24/7 connected to the internet and nearly that on Skype and Second Life, but the former is used as our telephone service for one business and the latter is used more as a passive, sometimes interactive chat than something either my wife or I need to do constantly. Neither of us are connected 24/7 to IM clients and our email is auto-retrieved every 5 minutes.

We take our share of AFK time and honestly since going TV-less we haven’t really increased our overall internet time which means we’ve actually added more R&R time to our lives. We typically take the most AFK time from the internet on Sunday, followed by Saturday. In fact, if you read this close to the publishing date/time (Sunday) we aren’t even online right now, my wife and I are offline celebrating our 17th anniversary in another state. I probably took my camera to capture the moment, but we didn’t take our computers or even PDA.

Blogs can use future post publishing option to get away
Thanks to future post publishing options, it’s possible to get away without looking like you are away. Not that we’re trying to deceive readers and I wouldn’t recommend doing this for too long a period without telling readers, but it can be a useful way to insert some future published posts during AFK times and keep readers with something new in their readers from your blog.

There are some cons to this like if the post format goes wacky it could screw up the site while you aren’t there to fix, so it’s important to check the post preview on these type posts carefully. Also, you won’t be able to answer any reader comments immediately. One possible solution is to give somebody else you trust admin access while you are away and ask them to moderate the site and answer any pressing comments. Darren Rowse has a good list of 7 things you can do when you go on vacation, but I’d add that you can use some of these techniques for regular days off too.

Better personal and professional organization creates more free time
One thing I’ve written repeatedly is that it is important to take time off. Yearly vacations aren’t a distraction, they are vital to a healthy life. I don’t just write or say this, I actually do this every week (with very few exceptions). You’ll burn out if you do anything too much and no project, hobby, business, whatever is worth adversely impacting your health. It is possible to be extremely busy and yet still have a good amount of R&R time. Just work on personal and professional organization skills and cut down or out activities that don’t better your life in some appreciable way like providing a smile, hmm (hint, hint), networking, business, or other valuable personal or professional supplement.

As always, look forward to reading your insightful commentary on this and/or other posts when we return.

Of the parody sites I’ve seen, the Church of Google is among the more creative ones, complete with its own charter and description of the holy Google spirit:

Deities are typically described by their unique attributes, such as being all-knowing, all-seeing, ever present, the ability to answer prayers (search in Google’s case), immortality, remembering all (Google cache) and of course Deities must “do no evil”. Google exhibits all of these characteristics perfectly. In the absence of imaginary, supernatural beings, Google is certainly the closest thing humankind has to a true God, as classically defined.

And don’t forget the 10 Commandents of Google which include: “Thou shalt not use reciprocal links nor link farms,” “Thou shalt not use Google as a verb” and my personal favorite: “Thou shalt not manipulate Search Results. Search Engine Optimization is but the work of Microsoft.”

The site can’t resist jabbing Microsoft, referring to the convicted monopolist as Satan in the FAQ. Convinced that this is the religion of the future? You can even learn how to be a minister here.

Fellow GOOG shareholders, sense of humor needed to fully appreciate this one. I didn’t see any mention of the stock on the site, come to think of it. Got to donate to the church.

What do you get when you cross a distaste for McDonald’s and Hummers? Ronald McHummer.com. I’ll admit McDonald’s is a guilty pleasure. Hummers, perhaps the smaller H2 model aside, are too big, expensive and gas guzzling for my liking. They seem more like a good target for people who dislike road hogging vehicles.

I like the creativity of this parody site and the McDonald’s sign generator is a definite bonus (added to the growing Hmm sign generators list). Next time you want to put some text on a McDonald’s sign, now you know where to go.

Our neighbor stopped by earlier to let us capture this moment of their cactus blooming at night. I knew cactus had a ton of water in them, but blooming at night?

Curious about other pictures of cactus, a Google search revealed the Cactus Blog (subscribe via RSS) with pictures like this one and promises “Daily news about cacti and succulents.” Didn’t see any ads either.