Barking Fool

A doggy Christmas surprise

I just had to post this one.  Too Cute

Pearls Before Breakfast - washingtonpost.com

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

-- from "Leisure," by W.H. Davies

Pearls Before Breakfast - washingtonpost.com.

A lesson in quality and context.  Amazing!  Well-written and thoughtful.

 

Zen and the Art of Remarkable Blogging | Copyblogger

The 1974 bestseller Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance begins with the following disclaimer from author Robert Pirsig:

“[This book] should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It’s not very factual on motorcycles, either.”

Likewise, this article isn’t going to teach you much of anything about Zen Buddhism, and absolutely zero about motorcycles. But I hope it does provide some insight into effective blogging, or, at a minimum, gets you to think differently about your current notions regarding content and the attention you seek with it.
The Four Noble Truths of Blogging:

1. Get Over Your “Self”

Buddhists believe that suffering begins with our perception that we are separate and distinct from the rest of reality. In other words, our own egos make us miserable.

In blogging, the publisher / reader mindset can also cause you unnecessary pain. The key to successful blogging is an alignment of interests between writer and reader. It’s that sweet spot where what’s good for your readers matches what’s good for you.

Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.

2. Free Your Mind

Zen is all about seeing deeply into the nature of things by direct experience. Blogging that gets noticed and linked to is all about seeing existing information from a unique perspective and writing with a fresh angle.

Zen encourages meditation, and great blogging requires contemplative thought. If you’re truly going to get into lateral thinking mode, you’ve got to step away from the keyboard and think. Stop surfing, twittering, and reading RSS feeds and go for a walk.

Albert Einstein figured out that time is relative while on a stroll with a friend. Go do something else and a killer angle for your next blog post may just pop into your head.

3. Detach From Results

Another key to existential angst is an attachment to outcomes rather than simply focusing on excelling in our actions. The same is true for any pursuit, including blogging and social media marketing.

When you focus on the outcome you expect from your content, you are almost invariably failing your readers. Moreover, while one great piece of content may change your blogging profile immensely, a failure to consistently perform at or near the same level will make you nothing more than a one-hit wonder.

Focus on consistently producing excellent reader-focused content and effectively promoting it. The results will come.

4. It’s Up to You

While still steeped in Buddhist philosophy, Zen is more concerned with attaining wisdom through doing, in that daily life and mundane tasks will teach you more than any sacred text could. In this way, blogging and Zen are closely aligned—simply showing up and keeping at it will teach you more than anyone else can.

Zen encourages practitioners to learn from teachers and other students to better understand how to attain truth through direct experience. The blogging community offers a similar environment, but the final breakthrough will always occur in your own mind and be the result of your own actions. You’ve got to accept responsibility for your own success.

I’m sure the story of the origin of Zen can make this point much clearer than I ever could:

Buddha gathered his disciples at a lake on Gridhakuta for instruction. His adherents sat in a circle about him eagerly awaiting his teachings. Wordlessly Buddha reached into the muck and pulled up a single lotus flower. He then held it high for all to see.

Practically everyone was bewildered. But then the disciple Mahakashyapa began to laugh.

Finally, Buddha handed the lotus flower to Mahakashyapa and said,

“What can be said I have said to you, and what cannot be said, I have given to Mahakashyapa.”

Get it? :)

Zen and the Art of Remarkable Blogging | Copyblogger.

My Horoscope for Today

You may be facing a basic conflict between needing to work and wanting to play, yet you aren't receiving enough support to ease your concerns. Let's face it: you have been burning the midnight oil in order to get everything finished. Unfortunately, it's not quite time yet to slow down. Pace yourself until you complete your work. The fun will follow.

Sometimes, it is scary how accurate these silly things can be.  This one is dead on!

FastMail.FM weblog » Blog Archive » Publish a home page easily with TiddyWiki

FastMail.FM weblog » Blog Archive » Publish a home page easily with TiddyWiki.

I just don’t want to lose this link.  Someday, I might have time to get organized.  I know if I bookmark it I’ll forget what and why.  I sure do like Fastmail.  Nothing like it.

 

Michel: Animal welfare should be shelter's bottom line

Link: Michel: Animal welfare should be shelter's bottom line.
The Central Texas Animal Alliance and Lorri Michel asked me to help with their website. It started me to thinking seriously about how to improve the homeless animal situation here in Alaska.  While I'm sure we don't have the resources or some of the same problems faced by the people of Austin, we could do better  - A lot better. Our independent rescue groups are taxed to the max.  The purebred rescue stays busy and the mushers do what they can.  Yet, pushing to implement some of the No-Kill strategies being referred to by Lorri Michel in this editorial would certainly improve our lives.  Nothing breaks my heart more than the plea from Dog and Cat Rescue to make room for more because in 2 days the shelter is "cleaning house" and euthanizing KILLING all the animals.

It is a short commentary and well-written.  Will only take a few minutes to read - please go read it!

On Vox: QotD: Dreamy

What did you dream about last night?  

I think it i more than a little coincidental that this QotD comes up today.  I had a horrible dream last night.  My husband died and then true to his very nature, he never finishes anything, he kept coming back to life.  It was weird, graphic, and very unnerving.  One thing that struck me about the dream was that on one of his return trips to life he said he had come back to tell me that there really is a heaven and everything is nice there and not to be afraid or worry.  In the dream he said it was, "Just like Valdez, Alaska only much nicer."  Now, I've never even been to Valdez and that is where the pipeline loads crude oil from the North Slope onto tankers for a trip out through Prince William Sound.  What does THAT mean??  I was somehow comforted by his return that time; but the other returns were very unnerving.  One doesn't want to with him dead; but there was no closure. 

All day I've suffered from this dream.  I'm sure not wanting to go to bed tonight at all.  Hopefully, this entry doesn't make it worse tonight. 

Maybelle crawled into bed around 7am and started crying about her daddy being gone forever.  Her trouble was that there were no more dixie cups in the bathroom and she wanted a drink of water.  I gladly got her one 

Guess I am thankful I am not living in NY and that I'm not Anna Nicole Smith....

Worked my fingers to the bone today and still have more to do; but the computer is overclocking and telling me it's time to reboot.

Originally posted on lazytea.vox.com

On Vox: QotD: I Was The Sous Chef

Who taught you how to cook?
Submitted by Donna.

Fanny Farmer -- well sorta - my husband shoved a copy of the cookbook at me and helped when I was stuck.  Some things I picked up from watching my grandmother cook.  Mostly, I learned how difficult someone could make it look and learned how to do it my way once I left home.  Of course, "cook" is a 4-letter word and best left to someone who truly enjoys it.  When I got married I could hardly boil water without the cookbook.

Originally posted on lazytea.vox.com

On Vox: QotD: Never Seen It

What's the most famous movie you've never seen? Submitted by Mike.

» Read more on Vox

On Vox: QotD: Here, Take My Order

What is your favorite kind of bagel and what do you put on it? Submitted by Nacwolin.

» Read more on Vox