TOOL REVIEW UPDATE

In my Performancing (now called ScribeFire) review, I was enthusiastic about the Firefox extension but now have come to see it as a nuisance. It puts tags in my Technorati code that disables links to Technorati. I have found now that any Firefox extension web editor that I use with Blogger completely messes up Blogger's editing capabilities.

CoolIris is okay but it does not work with some image search engines such as Imagery and the window popping up can be a nuisance while one is trying to work. However, it is useful when I am searching for images on Google because I can see the images more clearly in the CoolIris window.

Technorati Tags: blogging tools, cooliris,imagery,scribefire

POEM OF THE WEEK

PANGUR BAN

I and Pangur Ban my cat

'Tis like a task we are at
Hunting mice is his delight
Hunting words I sit all night

Better far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill will
He too plies his simple skill.

When a mouse darts from its den
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the doubts I love!

Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.

---9th Century Monastic Poem

Technorati Tags: cats

VINDICATION!

Last month, I wrote about my trials and tribulations with a green tea blog that I will not name. Essentially, I quit because my former employers were upset because I did not follow their propaganda that green tea was superior to water in terms of hydration. I have evidence that my aversion to green tea is justified.

Scientists at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, have studied that the polyphenols in green tea can lead to liver damage if green tea is drunk to excess or is used with supplements with polyphenols. The liver problems associated with green tea are not surprising because green tea is also good for industrial purposes, for polishing the magnetic heads in computer hard drives during manufacture. Yuck...

Furthermore, Great Britain is introducing a hydration program for the elderly so they do not become dizzy and fall with thirst. Instead of tea, which is insufficient to meet the hydration needs of the elderly to prevent dizziness and falls, the Royal Institute of Public Health plans to install water coolers.

As a writer, I trust my research skills and my judgment. Writers need to have this type of confidence in themselves to go forward in their career. My former employers acted toward me like someone who was stupid and didn't know what she wrote or edited. I am pleased at this correction of their disbelief and vindicated about what I write.

Technorati Tags: green tea writing advice

POEM OF THE WEEK

My candle burns at both ends

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -

It gives a lovely light.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Technorati Tags: edna st. vincent millay

TOOL REVIEW

I found some interesting tools when I was using Stumble Upon (I'll review that separately). The first is a site that checks Google Page Rank. Simply type in your URL and press the submit button and the website will return a Google page rank. The Writer's Home is at zero but my other blog, Radio Free Canada,has a page rank of five out of ten. WebSiteGrader is a more useful tool that looks at a site and judges ways that the site can be enhanced. The site judges such categories as Google Page Rank, Web Page Structure, Technorati Ratings, and Reading Level. The site offers suggestions on how to improve the site ratings with such tools as metatags and RSS feeds.

I was curious about the two blogs that I write and so submitted the URLs for this site and for Radio Free Canada. The Writer's Home had a reading level of high school plus one year of college whereas my other site, Radio Free Canada, is at the first year of graduate school. I think the difference is due to the fact I have content, such as Poem of the Week,that is not of my origin on The Writer's Home site.

Technorati Tags: websitegrader, blogging tools,google page rank

POEM OF THE WEEK

So intense is this grief,
nothing I have ever felt before comes near it.
Yet by its means I stay alive.

I would be dead by now --
but for this heavy strong pain lying on my heart:
it won't give way to death,

I can't increase nor diminish these wounds.

Pitiless hurt.
Can I defend a heart and soul
so full of anguish?
My heart, my burning soul cannot breathe
outside this fire.
I live on despite myself

And what is my crown of thorns?
I am not able to grieve over my real grief.

Veronica Gambara

Technorati Tags: veronica gambara, italian poetry,women poets

SILENT VIGIL

There are some people who are requesting that there be a silent vigil in cyberspace for those dead in the Virginia Tech shootings. Those who wish to participate will not blog for that day. The date is April 30th, 2007. Please send the originator of the idea feedback, via the link at The Golden Pencil.

Thanks. ----Anne

Technorati Tags: virginia tech golden pencil,silent vigil

NOTE: I usually separate the content of my two blogs (the other is a political blog) but a writer is more than mechanics and word tricks. Words without passion and sorrow are flat and inhumane.