"Avian Einsteins" Fuel My Bird Thang

I was excited to recently see a video on Facebook from my friend, Beth Taylor... an incredibly smart and funny woman... regarding a conference at the World Science Festival back on June 2-13th, 2009.    World Science Festival?   I know.  I probably wouldn't have watched it if it wasn't endorsed by my friend Beth.   It had  segment with Bobby McFerrin (yes, of music with only his mouth fame) in a conference called Tones and Neurtrons.  This segment was about 3 minutes and it was riveting.  Really!  Then, I ran across another conference there called Avian Einsteins.  This was a study about learning to speak... the connections between language and movement... through birds.  Again... the series of video segments were spellbinding.  ( Apology to my parents for not being a fraction of this interested in high school or college about neuroscience.  My bad. ) The inspiration and motivation behind these studies came from video of a cockatoo named Snowball.  The video has over 3.5 million hits in the year it's been on the web... and with an avian scientist owner now, this bird has over 12 self taught dance routines ... and making up more all the time!  

Snowball's original owner loved the Back Street Boys and played them non-stop.  Apparently, Snowball doesn't mind their music even after all these years.   

Here's another dancing bird,  Frostie, who loves songs with a good beat too... in this case, Ray Charles singing "Let Me See You Shake Your Tail Feather"! 

Why the interest?  Birds are really smart!  They are a lot like humans.  They like to be chatty and social, they  mate for life, they imitate what they like, they have friends and enemies, they each have a signature song and when slowed down for our ears, those songs are beautiful!... and like the chimp, they invent tools!   If you watch the video, be sure you check out the one about the crow that makes a hook out of small piece of wire using its mouth and a hole in the wall and fishes out a small pail of food.  Brilliant.

This just hammers home from a previous confession... I dig birds!

Quotes I've Enjoyed on Twitter

Here are some quotes I've seen on Twitter and have been earmarking for future or frequent reference.  Some are from famous people.... some are anonymous.  Either way... I like them and hope you do too.

Your tongue can make your ears deaf.

A clever person solves a problem.  A wise person avoids it. 

Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.

People can keep nudging us off course a little at a time until finally, we find ourselves asking, "How did I get here?"

No person was ever wise... by chance.

If you reach out to someone who loves their profession, they will reach back to you. 

Don't wait for people to be friendly... show them how.

Your mind is for having ideas... not holding them.

If you think you can, you can.

Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.

If you have a college degree, you can be absolutely sure of one thing... you  have a college degree.

No one has ever become poor, by giving.

The secret of success lies not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do it.

The only lead worth having is the one you generate.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

To have more than you've got, become more than you are.

Urban Mining, Amy Barickman and Christmas Stuff... Yea!

Last Thursday, I had the pleasant task of going with Amy Barickman (Vintage Workshop, Indgyo Junction and many many books!) to one of our favorite antiquing digs in town... Urban Mining Homewares.  It's only open one weekend a month, and this was a preview of the Holiday treasures for sale.   Check 'em out.

So Wrong... They're Right

Confession... I like to laugh.  Not much of a confession, however,  I like to laugh a lot.  Big loud hardy laughs.   Really though, who doesn't?   Each day on the various social networks I frequent, I am guaranteed several good laughs.   I'm always amazed by the genuinely clever people out there, living amongst us, delivering one liners left and right.   With that in mind, I want to share with you a few sites I get a kick out of.

 

My first suggestion is on Twitter as @OHnewsroom  which stands for OverHeard in the newsroom.  This page posts up daily some of the best overhead quotes in newsrooms around the United States.   This page has approximately 9000 followers, which has doubled from 2 months ago!

 

• Anchor being introduced to new intern: “The name’s Rick. The ‘P’ is silent.”
• On-Call Reporter: “I’m glad I got called in today. It will keep me from drinking as much.”
• Over-worked and underpaid Editor: “The only thing I do well anymore is bitch.”
• "What’s the world coming to when Ryan Seacrest has a stalker?”
• At a student journalism conference: “Pull quotes are like condoms. You only need one.”

 

 

My second favorite suggestion on Twitter is @shitmydadsays.  This is posted by Justin, 29 years old living with this 73 year old father.  "He is awesome.  I just write down shit that he says".  This page has over 650,000 followers and is a bit colorful in its language. 

 

"You worry too much. Eat some bacon... What? No, I got no idea if it'll make you feel better, I just made too much bacon."


"The baby will talk when he talks, relax. It ain't like he knows the cure for cancer and he just ain't spitting it out."


"Remember how you used to make fun of me for being bald?...No, I'm not gonna make a joke. I'll let your mirror do that."


"I wanted to see Detroit win. I've been there. It's like God took a shit on a parking lot. They deserve some good news."


"The worst thing you can be is a liar....Okay fine, yes, the worst thing you can be is a Nazi, but THEN, number two is liar. Nazi 1, Liar 2"


"My flight lands at 9:30 on Sunday...You want to watch what? What the fuck is mad men? I'm a mad man if you don't pick me the hell up."

 

An all time fave of mine is @BluntCard   I originally met Mike (site's creator, designer, copywriter, editor, talent, everything) on Myspace a few years back but now you can find most of his goods here at his homepage on Bluntcard. In Myspace's hayday, Mike would get up to 11,000 hits to his page PER DAY!  Now... with the slow choking death of MySpace, you can find Blunt Card on several social networks. Here is a sampling of his work... and again, be forewarned:  It's colorful and targets every group within mankind. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twitter has been a little bit of Utopia for comedians.  Two I like to follow are Jim Gaffigan and Michael Ian Black.  Here's Michael's post from one hour ago.  "My son is reading this over my shoulder. Hey busybody, I'm not your real dad." They tweet often & frequently post photos.  Awesome. 

 

Other sites throughout several social networks draw large crowds.  One is FAIL.   Below is a typical "fail" and below that is a very rare "win".

 

 

and  Cake Wrecks   Yet another reason not to order over the phone.  Goodness.

and People of Walmart  This one is titled "Lots of Tail".  Notice the guy's rat tail... when you divert your eyes from the other "tail" on the girl.

 

and Awkward Family Photos.  Wha?... Wher?... Huh?

   Almost all of these creative page owners pretty much became overnight sensations and it couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of people.   Enjoy.

 

 

So... what do you think?

I've got enough business now, I need a logo.  What a wonderful predicament to be in.  WOOT!   In looking at the logo on the webpage... it looks grainy. Hmmm...

She's At It Again! (Yea!)

Debbie Dusenberry, owner of The Curious Sofa (in the Prairie Village shopping center at 71st in Mission Rd, Prairie Village, KS) rolled out her holiday look and products for the upcoming holiday season, on Friday morning Oct. 30th.    It's fabulous with a bit black and white and red all over.   A few nostalgic Santas and lots of glitz and shimmering glimmer.   I loved it.  I'm not quite in the holiday spirit yet... but I found visiting the store helped sway me in the right direction.  Swing by if you're a local... you won't be disappointed.

I love these doves on her wall.  If you recall from my Halloween post at her store, she had black crows on these limbs and they were minus the snow. Brilliant.

It might be a little hard to see, but she has a cool Frosty the Snowman black tophyat at the top of this black tree.

Who else would have thought of putting Jesus in a bird cage?  I love it and may do it too.

Lighted sticks (natural or all white sitcks) are a huge favorite this season.

This is what I like to call the floursack chair and I desperately want it!

I'm Just Say'n

I hope you have the opportunity to get out for Halloween this year. Most of all, I hope you dress up as something. Anything. Make it unexpected. My husband plays drums in a cover band for fun, called "Recess". (originally made up of grade school dads and a mom). They are playing at one of our favorite local digs, Johnny's Tavern, on Friday night for the Halloween party. It's always great fun, because year after year, party goer's (and the band) dress up in the most unusual and creative costumes I've ever seen. I think it's the unexpected from these upstanding adults that tickles me the most. Doctors, lawyers, Indian Chiefs coming as Barbie, The Space Shuttle and a baked potato... brilliant.

My husband is not one of those people. meh. He doesn't like to dress up for Halloween and I suspect he finds it too challenging and maybe a bit humiliating. Or a lot.  He did go as Travis Barker, the drummer from Blink 182, last year. I suggested he start a trend for himself and always go as drummers. Lenny Kravitz band has an awesome looking female drummer... Cindy Blackman. One big ass wig, bright red lipstick and large pair of sunglasses later... he's HER! Regretfully, he's not feeling it.  I want him to surprise not only the hell out of me, but everyone who knows him... and dress up as something. Anything. Unexpected. I'm sensing a Flight Attendant... or a flight risk.




Happy Halloween. Find your inner Ninja, your Mad Scientist or perhaps your Zombie Cheerleader (like my daughter!). Be something. Appreciate the efforts of everyone else in costume. I'm just say'n... it's Halloween. Have fun!

Knitty Gritty

I just got home from a really nice evening... of knitting. I'm not a knitter, though I want to be. Again... it must be that "I'm old now" thing like bird watching, on a previous post. Well I hit the mother lode tonight... I saw needlepoint birds at The Studio, where we were knitting! Cool! Here are some of them. I can easily do without the old fake vines, but cool nonetheless. Thanks to Felice Azorsky of Bagettes and Jennifer Roe of Tastebud Magazine for putting this together. GREAT idea!










The yarns were inspiring. I want to make something! I saw some cool knitted fingerless gloves... I had to put one on and imitate the poor little match girl from the old moral story. I can't tell you how many times my son has cut the fingers off his gloves so he could stay warm and still catch a football. Great colors and textures... wine and candy corn... gorgeous witty women... what a beautiful way to spend the evening.


On a completely different side note... TRAIN has a new album, due out Oct. 27th can be listened to here on MY999 ! The whole new album "Save Me San Francisco"! I particularly love songs "Parachute" and "Marry Me" and of course "Save Me San Francisco" where Train made a shout out via social media on Twitter and Facebook for their fans to come to the recording studio in San Francisco and clap on the namesake song. Many of the people I've met over social networking the last few years went! Here they are... Gotta love TRAIN! Congrats to Alisa, Monique and the others... fun opportunity. Take a listen too... tell me what songs you enjoyed too. The TRAIN tour is already under way and I hope you get to see them. It's a great date!

Claim Your Name.... Before It's Too Late!

I think this is really exciting! You may have read previously on my blog about the importance of creating and getting your own Universal Identity. It's what's coming... it's what's around the corner and we're getting a peek at it more and more every day.

Two companies are going to help you get yours... so start thinking and remember what my ol' diving coach used to tell me "If you think too long, you think wrong."

The first of these helpful companies is Namechk. This is a slick quick site. Type in your username you have for your current social networks, because you'll want the same one on all your pages so you can build your own brand. Namchk will cross check this username with 128 social media networks and let you know what site that name is taken or available on.

The second site is Knowem. At Knowem, they are launching a service that will make searching and ultimately registering usernames much easier across many social sites. The basic service is free. Similar to Namechk, it will search 330 social media sites for the name you type in to see what's available and where. If you haven't chosen a username for your own personal brand or for your business, THIS IS THE TIME!

Knowem is also offering three different services too (not free). The Corporate Edition clocks in at $350, but will register your desired username across 150 of the top social websites, set-up your profile, avatar, bio/description and URL. This is all done by KnowEm staffers and they set things up so you don’t have to worry.

The Individual Edition is $99 and will start the sign-up process at 150 different social sites. You’ll still need to confirm the sign-ups and populate the accounts with your own information.

For the true social media addict, KnowEm also offers a subscription service for $49 a month that will automatically register your username on 30 new social networks a month. (Thanks Christena Warren of Mashable for the service descriptions)

As my freaky social media enthusiast and I have been discussing these sites today ... we realize many of those hundreds (possibly thousands) of social media sites may not be around in 1,2 or 5 years. However, we really don't have any way to guess which will survive and which won't. Whodathought Twitter, with it's 140 character limit would be as popular as it is? I like the idea of these two sites and I like the easy steps toward Universal Identification too. Especially for a business who plans on long term sustainability. I would like to do it for myself too... although I find I am onesy twoing it through the social networks I want to be on. We'll see how that goes.

What do you think about all this? Would YOU do this?

Ve Vant Yer Blood!!!!!!!!!!!! Oct. 30th