Found Not Lost

Today’s blog find is Write in My Journal. Again, I stumbled across this blog by chance and I got caught up in it. It’s amazing how wrong our assumptions can be about people sometimes; and the humans that they are, they never do what we expect them to do. That is fast becoming the pattern of Write in My Journal which is about a guy, David, who searches out random people to write in his journal. Amazingly, it sounds like not too many people turn away from him, thinking he’s a freak for asking them to write in his journal. Many of the ones who agreed to write in his journal are actually pretty candid about the things they write about.

He gets people from all walks of life to write in his journal. Why a cop and even Santa Clause wrote in his journal! One story that touched me though is the girl named Vicky Johnson. She’s only sixteen, she’s an alcoholic. She wrote him an update after her entry in the journal. She chronicled her battle with alcohol and how she got to where she is now; already at rock bottom at 16. Most 16 year olds that I know, their greatest worry is nose blackheads, acne, football games and being popular. This girl is dealing with something that most adults will not even encounter. It’s heartbreaking.

This write in my journal blog sound like it’s going to be another hit like post secret. I enjoyed reading David’s commentary and impressions of the people along with their entries in his journal. If you like reading human interest stories, this is a blog that definitely needs to be on your blogroll.

My blog find for today is Google Stalking. I think we’ve all done this before, Google someone’s name, an old friend, beau or foe, and see what they’re up to now. I just never thought about making a whole blog out of it! That’s what Google Stalking is all ABOUT:

Searching on Google for old and new classmates, lovers, roommates, employees, friends, teachers… Anyone you have ever met in your life. That is Google Stalking. You are a Google Stalker and these tales of Google Stalking are your stories.

The owners of this website have no affiliation with Google. As if there was any doubt. Dur.

They ask for people to submit their Google Stalking story:

Nothing should be held back when relaying your Google Stalking story, except for last names to respect the privacy of those you Google Stalked. We want you to submit all the dirty details, no matter how minor (though we prefer the major ones). We want you to tell us how you know the person you Google Stalked. We want to know what drove you to Google Stalk them. Most importantly, we want to know what you found from your Google Stalking.

and people really do submit candid and highly entertaining stories! I admit I’ve googled a few names or two and even found an old friend that I had lost touch with through googling.

Reading through some of the posts on the site, I can’t help but wonder about people’s motives when they Google an old acquaintance. Is there a perverse sense of curiosity, the type usually manifested in school reunions, that hopefully this person is worst off than you are? Sort of like the glee one would get in finding out the most popular cheerleader is now fat with six kids and is on welfare? Whatever the motives, I think it’s a fun and cathartic exercise to be able to write it down anonymously. It sure was fun reading about some of them.

Skeet was playing with words today on Wordle and it just looked like so much fun I had to try it out. I used to do this in high school but on paper of course, that was pre-internet times You’ve seen ‘word clouds’ on other websites, I’m sure. With Wordle, you can turn any text into word art. Try it out and see if you don’t get hooked.

My first attempt on the left is the quote from Twilight. The one below is this post.

I was amazed to find this site today. The title of the post is Jenny Makes a Catfish Cake. I thought it would be a fish patty or something. I thought the photo on top was of the real catfish to make the cakes. Reading on, I was amazed to learn the catfish IS the cake! Go visit the site and look at the step by step process. Jenny is an artist if you ask me

I have to admit though, it’s not the most appetizing looking cake, but how awesome is it to make something sweet look slimy and fishy!

UPDATE (9-06-08) - I just found out Jenny can also make pig cakes!

Did you know that, when you travel outside of the U.S., on your return back to the country the U.S. government can take your laptop, cell phone or PDA and download all your private information including personal and business documents, emails, phone calls and text messages, and browsing histories? It’s not like you can refuse to be searched either, like when you get stopped by a traffic cop and they ask if they can search your vehicle. The airport security, protected by the department of homeland security do not have to ask you, this is an official policy outlined on their website: Policy Regarding Border Search of Information. Related articles on the the Leadership Journal - The Homeland Security department’s blog:
Answering Questions on Border Laptop Searches
CBP Laptop Searches

I found out about this in an email from the Care2Petition Site. They are asking people who think this policy violates our rights to privacy to sign a petition.

This is the form letter found on the site:
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