Thursday, July 20, 2006

The "Express" Feed

I wasn't even aware of this, but this blog is available as a news "feed". You can subscribe to read it whenever it's updated on your Yahoo, or Google, or MSN, or whatever homepage, or even, apparently, on your cell phone or PDA. How cool. I just added it to my Yahoo home page so I can keep up on what I write. (That's a joke, son). Just enter the following URL into your subscription search box: http://shotonsite.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Click here to see if your favorite newsreader is "atom-enabled".

Note: This is not RSS but is similar. I may switch to RSS at a later date, and will let you know.

Who are the Bloggers? Who Knows? Pew Knows.

So, Pew Research does more than just tell us how low your president's popularity numbers have sunk... (and I'll bet they sink lower after yesterday's veto- but that's another story for another day).

Their Pew Internet & American Life Project recently completed a phone poll of a few thousand internet users, and a separate, smaller poll of bloggers to tell us who we are. And it seems most of us are,

" focused on describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology. Blogs, the survey finds, are as individual as the people who keep them. However, most bloggers are primarily interested in creative, personal expression – documenting individual experiences, sharing practical knowledge, or just keeping in touch with friends and family."

That pretty well sums up my intent. Well, that and keeping the old tip jar full. I see that's doing as well as the old Google ads! I'm relieved.

You can read the entire Pew report in PDF format here. You can also click back to the Internet & American Life home page and take the poll. Quite interesting.

So... why do you blog?

Monday, July 17, 2006

Holiday RV Park Flora

Having showed you some of the fauna of the campground, (the toad), here are some of the flora. These were taken in May, I think, when you could still walk the trails without dressing for full combat with the most carnivorous of the fauna: deerflies & mosquitos.

This is the trillium. A true harbinger of Spring in Michigan.














Apple blossoms.















Posted by Picasa

Sunday, July 16, 2006

More Balloon Fest Highlights

Cool stuff- like the Mitchell B-25






The Jackson Antique Tractor Club..










..and a cool quartet of precision flying WWII trainers. All in all, a fun afternoon. Posted by Picasa

That's A Lot of Hot Air...

More images from the Balloon Festival...

About 40 balloons mass launch for the "hat toss". Pilots have to gauge the wind direction and speed to properly come across the field and toss a hat onto one of several poles that are placed there.










Nice try... but no cigar.



Old Mac Donald may have been funky, but this was my personal favorite.


Will add some from the small air show later... Posted by Picasa

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Old Mac Donald Had A...

...uh, hot air balloon? Well, yep, in this case.

One of the more mind-boggling examples at the Jackson (MI) Hot Air Balloon Fest today. Careful with that pitchfork, Mac! Posted by Picasa

More Fun With Dogs

Is this suit (and we're not talking about the guy's birthday suit!) frivolous? You decide.

Speaking of "birthday suits", we're now only two weeks away from the Art Fair at Turtle Lake Nudist Resort. Bet you can't wait for our post on that one!