Put 3 and 4 together...

If you were to add Fletcher's and Daniels' job approval numbers together (24% and 39%, respectively), that 63% would only raise them into a 12th place tie among the 50 governors.

off Bluegrass Report via SurveyUSA
Makes me proud to be a Tennessean, even if I am 12 miles too far north.  ¶   0 comments

  Sonic Memory

For the fifth anniversary of 9/11, American Radioworks will offer arebroadcast of the beautifully haunting documentary from the Sonic Memorial
project. In the weeks and months after 9/11, NPR’s Lost and Found Sound and the public broadcasting community collected audio traces of the World Trade Center, its neighborhood and the events of September 11, 2001. Listen to this surprisingly intimate portrait produced from voicemails, archival tape, on-site recordings, oral histories, remembrances and stories.



Airs September 11th at Noon on WKMS.

Learn more about the Sonic Memorial Project at http://www.sonicmemorial.org.

I visited the Sonic Memorial Project while working on a story about the broadcast, and haunting doesn't begin to describe it. My first thoughts went straight to the tech-geek end of the pool. "Oh, an interactive flash interface being used artistically!" but as I hunted the clickable lines that dance across the long, narrow window of the Sonic Browser, the ambient noise stirred my memory. Capturing each line hushes the chaotic sound of confused voices, equipment, and warning signals. By holding the line, that particular clip plays its small voice. You can listen to the whole thing or let the line go and watch as it floats away, threadlike, back into the chaos.

http://www.sonicmemorial.org. Worth a look. Or, in this case, a listen.  ¶   0 comments

  Johnny Cash and Sam Mcgee Worth listening to: Johnny Cash Reading "The Cremation of Sam Mcgee" (via NPR).
I memorized that poem in middle school speech, and can still do most of it. Morbid and wierd, maybe, but it's still a neat poem. Mr. Cash is better at it than I am.

Btw, I am still here, and will actually do a real update soon. I'm stealing time I don't have right now, though. Lots of big things going on right now. Internet time will come...  ¶   1 comments

  Thankful Thursday I Blonde Mom has a great idea that Brittney has already picked up on. I think it'll be a good way to get me blogging at least once a week regularly, so we're going to start Thankful Thursdays this thursday.
This week, I am thankful for...
Tiffany's arrival back on this side of the country, safe and sound and not a moment too soon.
Everyone in the UK who helped prevent this morning's attempted airline attack.
Myranda's grandparents' donation to the "Get Tiff and Myranda a house" fund.
Yesterday's meeting with the amazingly helpful Mrs. Poole, who may well be renting a house to Tiff in the next few days. She met us 20 minutes after we called, knew the rental house inside and out, and was upfront and honest about everything. Besides that, she was fun conversation and an overall nice person.
Several afternoons with my housemates, who graciously let me take over their home for the summer without asking for a thing in return, and have since taught me better cooking, several new passtimes, and helped me keep my awesome job this summer. In particular, tonight's gaming :)
Alvie, our work techie, for teaching me all the fancy keyboard tricks I needed to make Excel only half as miserable to use.
Yesterday and Tuesday's conversations with Caroline, which kept me sane through all the data-entry.
The time spent with my Dad, StepDad, and Stepbrother as we celebrated all their birthdays.

and finally, Brittney at NiT and Blonde Mom for giving me the idea to try this.  ¶   1 comments

  Not dead Just feel like it.
Been under the weather this week.
apparently turned into a weekend blogger over the summer, will try to remedy that soon.
But now, more data entry at work.  ¶   0 comments

  Spiderman 121-122 For fans, Amazing Spiderman 121 has a mark in history. A very dark mark. If you're familiar with the Spiderman movie, you'll recognize a few of the scenes, because this showdown with the Green Goblin is the real climax of the tension between Norman Osborne and Peter Parker. But if you haven't read the previous 100 issues, the blonde who plummets off the bridge is likely not as familiar.
Gwen Stacy, Parker's first love, dies in this issue. And not by the Goblin, either. At least, not directly. Norman knocks her off the ledge, but it's the moment spiderman's web ties to her foot that her neck snaps.
This issue's come under a lot of criticism. Apparently there was pressure from Marvel to do away with Gwen. Seeing Peter Parker happily in love and no longer suffering a -terribly- struggling personal life drew a lot of complaints from the brass. Many fans hate this issue. They call it contrived and cruel. I'll concede to the latter point. And even while I knew it was coming, the tragedy of that character's death was more of an impact than anything I've taken from a 2 hour film. Roughly 100 issues of relationship crises, tension, development, and finally happiness, then it's taken away by gravity.
Spidey's life is one heck of a ride.
And that's why we all continue reading.
400+ issues to go.  ¶   0 comments