Howdy folks!!
We had an important visitor to the Froggy Bottom Cafe last night and that was ‘Booman’ and he gave us a wonderful testimonial that I want to share with you all in case you didn’t see it last night.
Three Cheers for Booman and Froggy Bottom Cafe!!!!!
I just wanted to stop by and thank you all for the wonderful job you have done setting up the FBC.
I also wanted to let you know how much your efforts mean for the success of the site.
Yesterday I went to a picnic for the Philly for Change group. And I spent most of my time chatting up Chris Bowers (of MyDD) and his girlfriend/wife Levana. First of all, they are really nice people. But Chris asked me about a statistic called ‘average page views per visit’. You can see it by visiting the sitemeter at the bottom right of the page.
Right now it shows 5.4, but yesterday it was 5.7, and it has been as high at 8. By comparison, Daily Kos is currently averaging 1.2 and MyDD is averaging 1.8.
What this means is that even though MyDD is averaging almost 10,000 more visitors a day, they are only averaging 3,000 more page views a day.
And so we are basically in the same band for advertising dollars.
As Chris described it, BooTrib is the ‘stickiest’ website around, by a big margin. He meant that BooTribbers spend a lot of time here. And I want to thank Diane101, first and foremost, but Shirlstars and Man Eegee and the recent deputies that have helped them greet newcomers and make them feel welcome.
Your efforts have not only made this site a fun place to spend time, but it has contributed A LOT to its financial viability. So, thank you all again, and save me a beer for the end of the night š
Booman
 | Go ahead now and have some fun and good talk with each other AND NEWBIES INTRODUCE YOURSELF!!!!! |
And I can recommend to everyone to visit the Site Meter and see the various statistics, observe the dynamics of the site and also check on referrals to see the search parametres that led people here from search engines.
The browser stats are pretty cool too; I was surprised (and pleased) to see such high numbers for Firefox and Safari — 28% and 15%, respectively. It’s just as well I don’t run (yet) my own blog: I’d be too busy geeking out on SiteMeter to actually publish any content!
Here is a link to the old FBC, for those of you who need to go un-recommend it!
So, are there going to be live threads tonight for the President’s address and for Rep. Conyers’s DSM event?
How to get the Welcome Wagon Above to be centered on the page….And isn’t it cute…
In your little IMG tag, when you write the diary, add following little code:
align=centerso that your whole IMG tag should read
img align=center src="wherever"The
aligntag has been deprecated, meaning “they” want to wean us off using it, and it won’t be present in future HTML specifications, but it still works here.How’d I do, k-bird?
I tried this mutiple times and it doesn’t work for me…Any hints, is there supposed to be a space between IMG and align and center and src.
There should be spaces between “img” and “align” and “src”. There should not be spaces between “align”, the equals sign, and “center” just as there shouldn’t be spaces in the “src” attribute.
We can chat you-know-where if you’d like: I’ll lurk around there for a few minutes.
Huh — I just looked at your sourcecode, and you’ve got the attribute in there just right, but it’s not centering. My last hint would be to put ALIGN=CENTER in all caps, but it shouldn’t make any difference. Perhaps we should leave this for katiebird: she could come up with some DIV wizardry for us, I’m sure.
<div style="text-align:center"><img src="URL" alt="Centered Alt tag (since there is no image)"> </div>
(The img tag should take the align option (it’s listed as one of the choices — but, this work-around works in the mean-time).
I’ve been so busy the last few days, I haven’t posted a word. And I’m too busy to stay. I’m hoping that I can linger a couple of times tomorrow.
I saw the message from booman & I’m very proud of us!
Hello to everyone and I’ll be back as soon as I can.
I’m clockwatching. I am so ready to go home. {sigh}
What nice comments from Booman. He was great yesterday – I e-mailed him to tell him I had forgotten my password and couldn’t log in, and he got back to me literally within minutes and had reset my password so I could come say hello. Thanks for everything, Booman – without you, there’d be no ‘us’!
My apologies for the racket, but I’m building a sauna over there behind the bar, with a deck out over the lake and steps down for those who wish to swim.
Diane has told me she will not be partaking in saunas, but interestingly enough she has reserved a seat by the window for the men’s sessions. Shirl, for some reason, has booked that window seat for other times.
There will be no mixed saunas during US waking hours, of course, but braver souls will be welcome while America sleeps.
Please bring your own towels.
And no glasses in the sauna please, you can keep your beers on the deck for when you emerge.
Here in the US we would say “you sly dog you,” for the
LOL
I am afraid not, I am agnostic now and will not be sitting by the window….>lol again<..
But you go ahead and build your virtual sauna (they will come) and I will be cooking the food and doing the welcoming. Deal!!!!
Ooh! The sauna is shaping up nicely. As for me, I’ll be swimming like a fish in the lake. After coming out of the Texas heat, it’ll be perfect!
The lake is a crisp 20C – a little goosepimply, but very refreshing. You will note that you cannot see your feet. The rich mineral content of the water does wonders for the skin, and I can recommend scooping up some of the cooling mud from the bottom. Slap it on all over, let it dry and then take it off again with a vigourous swim. Does wonders for the complexion…
Anything that’s good for the skin is good for me! When I come out of the lake, don’t mistake me for The Swamp Thing, because I’ll be covered in this mud. LOL!
A cool lake sounds excellent…the weather here today makes me feel like the world is one giant sauna…
Sure, I’ll give it a whirl, as long as (a) you keep the temps out of the brain-protein-denaturing range, and (b) no one tries to flagellate me with birch branches. In the meantime, I’ll be happy to help out with construction — I can pound a nail as well as anybody.
Bro – I find carpentry one of the most meditative and calming activities.
The smell of fresh cut wood, the satisfying thunk of a cleanly hit nail, all good honest labour. I am most happy that you join me in this venture.
Temps will be in the 70 C range, and the operation of the ‘vihta’ is more flicking than flagelling – don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
Good. Honest. Labor. Amen! Your description of carpentry makes me want just a little to chuck all this IT crap and become, maybe, a Shaker. Heck, after oil hits $100/bbl and the modern information-based economy collapses already, I may become a carpenter per force. I need to dig out those titles by Wendell Berry my bro-in-law gave me years ago, methinks. The Gift of Good Land was one of them.
…when I was nest building, I subscribed to Mother Earth News, lived in the forest, got water from a well and spent most weekends building something or other out of timber. Weekdays I commuted 55 kms into Helsinki to run a recording studio. It all seemed to make sense back then.
I have a good friend on the Finnish west coast – an antique restorer – who also builds some of our crazier exhibition designs. He has a huge workshop i which he can handle almost any materials – metal, casting, timber etc. I love to go over there for a few days when we have a project going on. I get to play with all his woodworking machines!
You guys really are fantastic, Diane and everyone that I won’t try and mention by name lest I leave someone out. (And isn’t that great too? That so many people, old and new, would jump right in and start welcoming people and making them feel at home that there is a possibility that some names might be forgotten.)
I agree it makes a measurable difference to the site. I don’t know the financial details, but I mean in the overall feeling, comfort level of the site, you guys are just stars.
Creating a space where people can (without guilt, lol) just chat and get to know each other, and play with graphics and so on is just priceless to a place like this, I believe… and it seems that has been borne out by the numbers. Kudos to all of you!
Diane, a suggestion though… I’ve seen a few new members and people may not realize that the FBC is also the Welcome Wagon and that they should come here to introduce themselves if they want, and get acclimated. Maybe once a week have a FBC Welcome Wagon edition?
Anyone interested in the open air addition right on the banks of the Frog Pond, take your drinks and snacks just over there a step or two and enjoy the outdoors indoors.
WELCOME TO THE CROAKA CABANA
<lyric>At the Croaka, Croaka Cabana! The hottest spot north of Havana!
Oh, I can’t remember the rest. Someone else pick up the thread?
Barry Manilow Lyrics – Copacabana
Her name was lola, she was a showgirl
With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there
She would merengue and do the cha-cha
And while she tried to be a star
Tony always tended bar
Across the crowded floor, they worked from 8 til 4
They were young and they had each other
Who could ask for more?
Chorus:
At the copa (co!) copacabana (copacabana)
The hottest spot north of havana (here)
At the copa (co!) copacabana
Music and passion were always in fashion
At the copa…. they fell in love
His name was rico
He wore a diamond
He was escorted to his chair, he saw lola dancing there
And when she finished,he called her over
But rico went a bit to far
Tony sailed across the bar
And then the punches flew and chairs were smashed in two
There was blood and a single gun shot
But just who shot who?
Repeat chorus
At the copa… she lost her love
Her name is lola, she was a showgirl,
But that was 30 years ago, when they used to have a show
Now it’s a disco, but not for lola,
Still in dress she used to wear,
Faded feathers in her hair
She sits there so refined,and drinks herself half-blind
She lost her youth and she lost her tony
Now she’s lost her mind
Repeat chorus
At the copa… don’t fall in love
Don’t fall in lov
…did anyone see the movie version of “Great Expectations” with Ethan Hawke? Miss Havisham spends the entire movie playing and singing different versions of this song:
She’s so crazy. It’s fantastic.
Magwitch frightened the bejesus out of me when I was young
Nope, but then I’m only a callow youth. Sort of. Who was in the original?
John Mills, Alec Guinness – directed by David Lean. 1946
Complete your cinematic education by seeing it š
along with
Touch of Evil: directed by Orson Welles
The Third Man: Directed by Carol Reed with Orson Welles
Paths of Glory: Stanley Kubrik, with Kirk Douglas
I saw The Third Man at a film festival in Boston and I have to admit it stumped me a little. I was mildly bored the whole time and I didn’t get what the big deal was. Actually, it was the same way I felt while watching “Citizen Kane”. Is it the same kind of thing – cinematic stuff that was groundbreaking at the time, but now is commonplace? Or was there something else there I was missing?
( I hope Diane doesn’t see me creeping over to the right margin)
I understand well that the MTV gen finds it hard to take the slow pace of such movies. It needs a different mindset.
But as I said earlier, it is education, not entertainment š
Hey! I have no problem with ‘slow paced’ movies. I’m not an imbecile, after all, and I didn’t grow up on MTV. I’m a voracious reader and someone who appreciates good film and good TV and doesn’t need things spoon-fed. I just think that “Citizen Kane” is still revered for the ground-breaking nature of its cinematography at the time it was released. It simply doesn’t have the same impact today that it did then.
You are partly right, they are historical and you need to be steeped in the historical context to get the most out of them. Citizen Kane tells a very important story about America, as does the savagely recut Magnificent Ambersons.
In fact, at the time, nobody would touch Citizen Kane – partly because the extremely powerful press magnet Randolph Hearst (Kane himself) forebad all ads in his newspapers. The film was ‘rediscovered’ in the late Fifties. As Jean-Luc Godard said ‘We owe everything to Welles’.
BTW Hearst demonized cannabis in retaliation for Mexican influence on his paper supplies. Up until then it was known only among musicians and Hollywood. A propos of nothing, Satchmo Armstrong smoked a couple of joints every day of his life š It’s a wonderful world
“Citizen Kane” and “The Third Man” boring?! BURN HER!
/jk
Not you, too!
I only act the part of an elitist film-snob. Tastes change. “Birth of a Nation” was once considered the greatest American film, but now it’s seen as embarassingly racist at best, and KKK propaganda at worst. With “Citizan Kane, ” everyone by now knows what the surprise ending is, so there’s really no wonder to it anymore.
(the “/jk” I put in my previous comment was “just kidding”, by the way!)
Okay, okay. I just had an unpleasant flashback to the time my music-major boyfriend told me I didn’t like jazz as much as he did because it was too ‘esoteric’ for me. Smug s.o.b. š
Now wait unitl I give the word……Who threw that?
BARRY! Is that you?
Hey everyone! It’s Barry. . .singing the new version
Croaka Cabana. . .
(Nice guy, but did his face just tighten up on its own, or do I think it was a surgical lift. . .does give his eyes a new slant though)
When I lived in town a friend would come to my apartment door and put his face right next to the wide angle peephole in the door. When he heard me behind the door, he’d yell out “Barry Manilow!”
Hi all, just wanted to drop by before I got real busy here. I give great honors to all that have put in blood, sweat, and tears here to make this the best ever site. You all are the greatest…..
Sweat? Sure. Tears? Absolutely.
But if anyone’s bleeding, I think we need to have a serious talk. š
Ditty on the warm fuzzies, though. You guys are the best. Since I sit in an office by myself all day, The FBC is frequenly my only source for humor. In fact, if it weren’t for Sven, I’d have no access to Scandanavian jokes at all! How do you say ‘thanks, dude!’ in Finnish?
Kiitti – a slang form of kiitos = thanks. Dude hasn’t made it to Finland (kiitos jumalalle)
Jokes? I simply describe everyday life here š
Well, not so much ‘Finnish jokes’ as just general funniness from a Finnish guy.
Our former company motto:
“Your pleasure is our business”
But we have recently replaced it with:
“fast, cheap, good – choose any two”
‘Dank, Geck”, for Thanks Dude in German, according to my trusty translator…
Ah, the week that was. . .a little sweat, some shared tears, lots of laughs and who knew you could actually blog for 48 hours straight without sleeping, but then all you Fab Froggies just jumped right in and started helping out, and Diane was relentless in her “emergency draft” implementation. Thanks to all who willingly offered or just took it upon yourselves to assist. It was just the greatest thing I have ever seen. And that’s how the Best of the Best end up here at the Frog Pond! And If Diane tells you she has an idea that would be good for BMT, you really ought to listen, cuz she seems to have her finger on the pulse of things. Sure, I hate it that she is always right, it makes it so hard to refuse her requests of assistance. . .but as Janet would say. . .Damnit! She is always right.
Delay was the majority leader of the house,
He was perceived to be such a louse,
He whined and he cried that it was all just plot,
He lost his last election and turned into a snot,
After all he did not want to keep chasing that mouse.
In the news today, proud, happy froggies gathered at the Froggy Bottom Cafe to celebrate the good tidings about the popularity of their favorite website. Most of them had to admit, however, that they hadn’t really understood what they were doing when they hit that “Refresh” button over and over.
“I just thought it meant, ‘Zander, fill up my glass again,'” one froggy said.
That Melanie, she’s a nice girl, but messy.
š
You’re one to talk, Kansas! Don’t think I didn’t see all the cookie crumbs you left under the bistro table… š
Kansas, you are one of the funniest people I know!
And of course I think you have a great sense of humor!
I am just beyond happy right now. UPS dude came by with a package from my brother in Boston.
Inside:
Two Xbox games (he gave the kids an Xbox last Sept)
Incredibles and some Monkey Ball game š
two U2 concert tees from the show he attended (where he kept calling me and saying, “OMG Bono is, like, 15 feet away!!”
and…
Crhimes Against Nature by RFK. jr. /
SIGNED by RFK, jr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, my brother is single and looking š
Maybe we need to set up a FBC ‘singles bar’. š
I just want him to meet someone special. But he’s still young and is still having fun š
I have no idea what I did to deserve such a superdude for a brother.
He’s my little-big brother. He’s 6’7″ I’m barely 5’5″.
My big brother seems to have a new girlfriend about every week. I don’t usually bother to learn their names until they’ve been around for a few months. It saves precious brain capacity for other tasks. š
I was going to rave about what a fantastic brother he is, but my mother just called me and said he emailed her a god-awful picture of me with the caption “this is your daughter on crack”.
And I just made him a CD, too! /hrumph
Guess he can kiss that CD goodbye, huh? š
Nah, I’ll send it, anyway. That’s what a great sister I am. š I think it’s a pretty good mix. In fact, I think I’ll post the track list just to share:
That’s a kick-ass mix! He’ll love it. You are a good sister….even if you do smoke crack. š
LOL!
Thanks! I figured I better make the most of having a computer with a cd burner while I still can – after this week I’m all done with work – yippie! Grad school, here I come…
What an accomplishment these days, making it to grad school. Good for you!!
Thanks! I’m so excited about it I’m near to bursting. And scared, too. I’m headed back to my alma mater, which is a mixed blessing to say the least, but should make the transition easier.
What part of Boston does he live in? I lived in Jamaica Plain and Somerville before I moved out to Cali, and I miss Beantown terribly.
He lives in the JP in a really nice house. Top floor or a 3er. He works on Newbury St. in Boston.
JP is such a neat place to live. Of course, I lived on the dodgy end across the street from the Forest Hills T stop, so most of the neat stuff was a mile or so away, but I still loved it. The best Thai food outside of Thailand can be had at a little shop on Center St. Plus, there’s JP Licks, the Center St. Cafe, the sushi place whose name I can’t remember…the list goes on. The only bad thing about JP is that there isn’t a subway stop in the center of town – you have to take the bus if you want to get into Boston.
he took us to JP Licks!!! My son started doing his “snoopy happy dance of joy” some snobass girls were inside making fun of my son… then they realized… and boy did they look like the hootchbags they were inside.
I can’t recall exactly where he lives… there’s a big plot of tree park.. he’s in a “pride neighborhood”
We are from the NorthWest – WA. He just moved out there a few years ago. My husband is the Bostonian. He’s from Danvers.
Small world, eh? š
Small world, indeed. And small city, as well.
I’m sure your brother really appreciates you pimping him on BooTrib. It’s heartwarming. š
He’d kill me LOL š
Invite him over – we won’t tell! /wink wink
Right on, Janet. A Froggy Toast to my two ‘little’ brothers, as well – younger is 19 and 6’7″ now, and older is 27 and 6’4″! The older is getting married next weekend to a great girl that the whole family adores. I’m a bridesmaid, against my better judgement. I tried to tell bro and his fiancee that I’m too old for this shit, but no such luck. Fortunately, his fiancee has the good sense to know that not only do women look different in the same style dress, but women have different tastes, as well – we got to pick our own dresses as long as they were pink. God bless her – now I won’t look like Miss Piggy! Whoo hoo! š
My brother is 30.
He’s incredible! Digs flicks just like me and my son. Artistic, empathetic, LIBERAL š
Plus last April, he flew me and my family out to Boston, from California and put us up in the Marriott in Copley Square and took us to Blue Man Group front row.
Better still.. we talk to each other all the time.
<All men are created equal – some just stick out more.>
For better or for worse. Truer words were never spoken.
I’ve actually been meaning to ask about that for a while – I can’t tell if this is an actual penis reference, or if my mind is in the gutter. Janet?
Hooray for BooMan!!!!!
I have a sticky keyboard… it’s from all the angel food cake that’s eaten on it.
Reason for all my typos, baby š
Do you google with goggles?
If you hurry on over to rawstory.com you will see the words google and goggle appearing on the front page at the same time.
Now what are the odds of that happening? Is this some convergence point, some alignment of planets, some disturbance in the force?
Make it so!
Goggles to see googles,
googles of lies that is,
may the President reveal the truth tonight
whether he actually speaks it or not.
Planets stars, photons, beam the spotlight tonight, let the truth be revealed to all.
Bad link, sorry. http://www.rawstory.com
Actually, there’s been a conjunction of mercury, venus, and saturn going on for the last few nights.
I have relocated to Northern California for the week. i am sitting around visiting with family and drinking a little vino. . . and stickily visiting Booman Trib.
We had spent some time hiking up there last summer and fell in love with Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, especially the James Irvine Trail. One of loveliest, most tranquil places we’ve ever hiked.
Is anyone else watching Hardball? Good heavens.
Where’s Zander? I need a double shot of something strong.
Actually, it’s getting interesting now. Michael Schiavo’s lawyer is arguing with Tony Perkins!
and here’s some really great news… after the FBC discussion the other day about photos, copyright and bandwidth, I emailed my favorite on-line bar (the place I’ve frequently ripped off pics from), and just today got a reply.
site than being stiff about how people use our images. And as I see it,
you and Booman Tribune are following our policies to the point.
Keep up the good work!
So cheers all around for Nikke, for being a really cool guy and Drinkalizer for supporting our lounge.
Hey, that is really great news! Great job making sure we’re all drinking legally š
Now if only I could find that ‘enter your birthday’ code……
Hey, FAB! ZANDER! And very smart folks over at the bar!
Smart folks with a huge collection of adorable little graphics – I’m psyched about my bartending capabilities now.
I just dropped a mess of ad-clicks on your buddies at Drinkalizer (not to mention the Google mojo with that link!). A very enlightened policy of theirs.
Cool – thanks for doing that. They are a couple of ex-Apple guys in Sweden who, with a bartender and photographer, put together a huge collection of images and recipes for their site. In my original mail to them I explained how frequently I had direct linked to one of their images and volunteered to ‘cease and desist’ if the bandwidth was a problem, or to add a link with each drink ‘served’. His very mellow and encouraging reply was a pleasant surprise – I love Sweden!
the welcome wagon. Ahhhh, it is great to be wanted! (Even if one is a mouthy ole woman!)
If it weren’t for mouthy old women, nothing would get done! And there may very well not be a welcome wagon or a Froggy Bottom Cafe`. And, organized mouthy old women will always get done what needs to be done.
So Cheers to all mouthy old women!!
Hip, hip Hooray!!
I just took a walk outside. First time I’ve been out since before Bush’s speech.
I’m not a religious person. I don’t believe in signs, omens, or portents. But I recognize a certain mysticism about things at times.
Tonight. There are fireflies flying again. It is calm, but there is lightning crashing, and thunder rolling nonetheless.
The air is still, but what wind there is carries hope of change.
A storm is brewing. I can feel it.
IT IS TIME TO ROLL UP THIS EDITION AND ROLL OUT THE NEW CLEAN PAGE EDITION OF FROGGY BOTTOM LOUNGE!
PLEASE UNRECOMMEND THIS ONE ON THE WAY OUT AND MOVE YOUR DRINKS, CHATS AND LAUGHTER OVER TO THE NEW SPOT!
THANKS! THE PARTY HAS JUST BEGUN. . . .
4. . .3. . .2. . . 1………
THIS EDITION IS CLOSED
HERE!!!