Wednesday, October 24, 2007

It Must Be October

A couple years back a friend of mine and her sister started a little company making dog clothes. It didn’t really take off and I know why now, they were ahead of their time. I guess because I spend a lot of time online looking at photo and particularly humorous photos that I have notice a trend. It seems that more and more people dress their pets up and photograph them. I don’t see too many on the streets in attire, but one can assume that as this trend continues we will see more cats and dogs dressed in style and of course fun fashions.

The month of October has been devoted to dog in particular who are ready for Halloween. So just in case you missed some I am making this a dog blog. Tastefully done I hope.
And to prove my point and show that I have correctly perceived this trend Good News Now www.goodnewsnow.com the website to whom this blog belongs posted a story this week on this very subject. We like to be up to date and tendy and give tons of how to and what not to do advice. Just so you will know…

Take care when costuming your pets

Without further ado, whatever that means I would like to present the dogs of October so far...

School Bus
May the Force be with you
Skunk
Pirate
Killer Bee
Hilarious
Ginger

Dog Parade

Too cute.

I love these dogs.

Banana

Astro

My younger sister sent this story in. Was she directing this at me?

Sunday, October 14, 2007

I Love Space and Science!!!

I was in grade school when the space program began. It was the first time we actually watched TV in school. I knew it must be important to be on TV. Picture a little black and white portable TV with 25 kids all watching a tiny little blob of light streak across the screen. It left a lot for the imagination.

I will always love space and science. I lived on the Space coast when the Shuttle program was in its infancy. I could watch the launches from my front yard. Much better view, full color with sonic booms that followed 5 minutes after the launch. I saw the first Shuttle go off at the Cape. Night launches are to die for. I lived there when the shuttle exploded and watch all morning as the debris slowly made its way back to earth. When I was a draftsman I worked on a communication systems project for the shuttle and I had friends who worked at the Cape. I will always be interested in the space programs.

People who ask why we are in space really bug me. But it is the question that was raised in my mind when I first saw a Mercury rocket go off. So many technological advancements have come from the space program , you will never be able to calculate them, from the computer to telemetry to Tang. It is all because we have gone into space.

So I had to laugh when I read.

Astronauts 'Home' Again on Space Station

The first woman Space Station commander arrived this week at the Space station and the reporter wrote about WHAT SHE PACKED.

And I thought it was fascinating and just like when I first saw a rocket go off it cause me to ask questions… what would I pack for space? Well I know how I pack for vacations and I know I WOULD EXCEED THE LIMIT. I would probably ask one of my male companions to put a few of my shoes in their luggage.

And I would take my dog.

So if you are like our Flicker friend Daita who lives in Japan and likes to take photos of the stars Keep Looking Up and read Good News Now.


Or as the Trekkies would say Beam Me Up.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

How I Choose "Shot of the Day "

There is a man behind Good News Now his name is James. He is my boss. I have friend Carolen who cuts my hair and she likes to hear me talk about the website. She thinks James is like Charlie as in Charlie’s Angels. She knows he is there, but we never see him. I just get my orders from him and I carry them out.

When the site was first started Charlie, I mean James told me he wanted lots of photos that changed often. I am thinking, “where do I get them?” After some internet exploration I discovered Flicker and I used the public posted photos to go with stories and I started Shot of the Day. I noticed a lot of on-line papers have something like that. I also found out the photos on the government sites can be used and most non-profits. I try to give credit and a link back. I beg forgiveness, instead of asking permission. Only one person in 18 months has been upset with me. And even she asked me to please you her photos after we went back and forth with a few emails. Most people are very happy to have their work on the site.

We would like more submissions.

At first Shot of the Day was chosen by me just picking a word and doing a search. Like the word “blue.” I just surfed until I found a photo that delighted me with the tag "blue." That is the random method of choosing Shot of the Day.

After being the webmaster for about 9 months I began to developed relationships online and figured out there were online communities. I joined several. My favorite is Gather. I got the idea to start a group on gather for people to submit photos for Shot of the Day. We have about 24 members. It is called Good News Now Photos.

I decided to do the same on Flickr. That group is also called Good News Now Photos too. I am not very original with my group names. We have 19 members who regularly submit.

I tell you this because…. I want you to join us. We really would like to grow those groups and get more people submitting photos. To do that I am committed the month of October to doing more random photo searches. See, that is how I make photo friends online. I have joined a few other online groups and I need to develop those connections. If you are in a photo group that I need to know about invite me to join. Email me at ruthieonart@ruthieonart.com.

Today’s Shot of the Day was randomness at its best. I chose the word “pear”. I have no reason why except that it is late and I am hungry and a pear sounds good to me. Too bad for me I only have bananas.

Chosen at random "Pear" by Flickr member S Baker