StackOfStuff.net

Rush Limbaugh has his . . . well, here is mine. This is my record of news stories and issues that interest me. You can also find more headlines at the site where I serve as editor: The Common Voice.

Saturday, April 30, 2005

More dog stories...

Today I posted the following column at The Common Voice: A close encounter of the canine kind. I wrote it because of what happened to The Greenville News editor Beth Padgett. Her experience reminded me of one of my own.

And then more came to mind...

I remember when I was in Junior High. I had a mutt dog named Rowdy. He was a great dog. One day, I looked out into the front yard (it was nearly an acre) and saw Rowdy fighting with a Doberman out near the country road. With tears in my eyes, I ran out there yelling and throwing things.

The Doberman backed off. Rowdy was in a bad way. He skulked under some bushes there in the front of the house and lay panting. I crawled beneath the branches with him and held him in my arms coaxing him to drink some water. I didn't realize at the time just how hurt he was. However, looking back I realize that his neck was open and he was bleeding to death.

My dad had to pull me away covered with blood. I don't know exactly what happened after that, but I remember my parents telling me Rowdy was dead. He had given as good as he got, only the Doberman had a thick collar around his neck - which I noticed later was pretty chewed up.

Now, my dad is a very soft spoken man. It takes a lot to get him angry - or at least to get him to express his anger. However, he and I drove over to the house where the owners of the Doberman lived. My dad knocked on the door with me standing beside him. "I just want you to know that your Doberman just killed my son's dog," he said. "I also want you to know that if I ever see that Doberman in my yard, I will shoot it."

It was one of those moments when you just know your dad is the greatest dad in the world. I miss you, Rowdy. I love you, Dad.

Friday, April 29, 2005

Whatzupwiddat?

Line up for the Aaron's 499 | Talladega Superspeedway

I know that qualifying doesn't mean much at a track like Talladega, but it is nice to know Gordon has a fast car. I just wish my other drivers would have done as well. Gordon was second, Nemechek 24th, Biffle 29th and Waltrip 38th.

Boy, that makes it hard to decide who to bench on Sunday...

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Are those two keyboards?

This CommonVoice.com rewrite is about to kill me! I'm getting too old for these late nights. It has been midnight or later almost every night this week. 5:30 AM comes fast when you go to sleep in the morning.

However, the late nights are about to end! YEAH!!!! I am just a few keystrokes away from Version 1.0. Then it is just minor debugging as the sites begin to go live. Now I can turn my attention to supporting my managing editors and getting the new sites promoted.

The Common Voice is also due a rewrite/redesign. It is coming, but I'm going to take a break for a bit so my fingers can rest - not to mention my brain!

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Introducing SCHeadlines.com

Introducing SCHeadlines.com. This is the first site in the CommonVoice.com network to go "live." You'll find it is very much like TCV - but different. Your TCV MyVoice! account information will sign you on, so no needAs time goes by, you will notice even more of a difference as TCV moves more toward a national issues oriented site.

Come on by and check it out and say hello to Benj Buck, the new managing editor. Bookmark it, tell your friends, buy advertising from Benj (all the income goes to him - not me), post comments... whatever, just dive in there! Show your support for TCV by paying a visit to SCHeadlines.com.

SCHeadlines.com is here with more sites to come! And remember, look for changes to The Common Voice in the following weeks.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Al Findley - Hope Baptist Church

A Servant for Jesus Christ

Today was a great day at Suber Road Baptist Church. After finishing the morning service we had BBQ prepared by a member of our church that owns The Pit Crew BBQ. I hope he will open a restaurant someday because this BBQ is awesome - the sauce is a great mustard base sauce of which I will be buying a case!

We just finished the service that followed. We had a sister church - Hope Baptist Church in Nickeltown. The pastor there, Al Findley, was the speaker. It is always enjoyable to have him speak and it was nice to have his members join us. I hope we will do more of this in the future.

A timely message as if taken from the headlines

More students follow spirit than letter of religion

I thought Pastor Chuck's message today, Relationship Over Religion was very appropriate after reading today's Greenville News piece. I pause to note that religion is not a relationship - but neither is spiritualism.

Pheonix Rising

Well, I got my win. Though not the way I wanted to! Pait Racing has moved into third (Still second in the points totals). But as I said after Texas, If only I had run Mikie instead of Nemechek! Actually, if only I had run Mikie instead of Biffle! I thought I was a goner when Biffle had that freak accident. Then I watched Harvick start burning up the field. Had he not faded at the very end, I would have been toast!

Bud-Man-Fan
14 - Ryan Newman
19 - Kevin Harvick
33 - Tony Stewart

Pait Racing
10 - Joe Nemechek
12 - Jeff Gordon
41 - Greg Biffle

Driver 8 Fan: 5 Wins 3 Losses (3130 pts.)
20Buck: 5 Wins 3 Losses (2749 pts.)
Pait Racing: 4 Wins 4 Losses (2888 pts.)
Bud_Man_Fan: 3 Wins 5 Losses (2752 pts.)
Boogity Boogity Boogity: 3 Wins 5 Losses (2721 pts.)
FreeAgents: 3 Wins 5 Losses (2648 pts.)


Me / Current Leader

I got two more state sites up and running during the race! We now have four up and gathering content for their launch. Things are progressing...

Saturday, April 23, 2005

After racing today there's racing tonight

Here is my lineup for tonight's race in Pheonix.

24 Jeff Gordon, DuPont Chevrolet (Starts 1st)
16 Greg Biffle, Army National Guard/Subway Ford (Starts 3rd and won Friday's Busch race)
01 Joe Nemechek, U S Army Chevrolet (Starts 13th)

I know, I know, I shouldn't bench Waltrip. He is driving the same car Junior won with at Pheonix last year. Still, I have a hard time giving up on Nemechek. I actually benched the number 01 car until I saw how he qualified. His 13th starting place is better than Waltrip's 28th.

I need to win tonight. I am in second place in points but fourth place in the wins.

I'll watch the race tonight from my home office. I've got a lot of work to do!

Oh yeah, what did I mean by "after racing today"? Well, my little girl and I raced in a pinewood derby today. We both came in second. I'll post a pic later.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Nine sites in the starting gate!

Wow, when I sent out my request for editors on Wednesday, I never thought by Thursday evening I would have people interested in being managing editors from so many states! I am in communication with possible editors in the following states:

Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nevada
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
South Carolina
West Virginia

My initial goal is to have 25 states represented - anything above that would be icing on the cake. I'm nearly halfway to my goal. I would really love to see Texas and California join the list next.

These sites could very well all be online by this time next week. I will be listing the sites as the become available here on StackOfStuff.net as well as on The Common Voice.

Update on CommonVoice.com expansion

I was excited to see the response that came in after publishing my State of the State column on The Common Voice. Before the day was out, I had interest expressed by possible editors in Nevada, Ohio, West Virginia and Missouri. I also have some contacts in North Carolina and Michigan - though those two don't look as strong right now.

Looks like The Common Voice is expanding!

Ironically, I have had no one from South Carolina approach me today. It would be the easiest to step in and manage. I'm still open to someone stepping into the managing editor role for the site, but if they don't I guess I will take that as a sign that I am to remain in the position.

A by product of this is something I didn't expect. I really think I am going to enjoy getting to those these people who will be managing the state sites. I have found they share my mission and that is really encouraging.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

I need some editors

I have been hinting at this for some time. Now I am going to lay it out and issue a call for help. The time is very close at hand and I need some editors.

To make a long story short, I have been working behind the scenes to create an application that will allow for there to be many mini-CommonVoice.coms. Specifically, I have created the system to allow for state specific websites that use all of the functionality of CommonVoice.com but on a targeted state based level. These aren't just sections underneath the CommonVoice.com domain - they are actual stand alone sites with their own URL, administration and traffic tracking.

I want to "give away" these sites. Of course, the first out of the gate is the South Carolina site. I am not ready yet to give out the URL publically, but I will say that whoever gets this site will be hitting the ground running!

These sites will be headed by a Managing Editor. This editor will have full control of the web based administrative functions of the site. I emphasize the fact that it is all web based. No techno geeks needed. The site is very easy to manage. I have worked hard to make it as simple for these editors as possible.

Of course, I will remain the Executive Editor. I will have override power over each of these sites. However, I want to spend the time I have normally spent doing much of the state stuff to focus on expanding The Common Voice as a national presence and also devote some time to creating new functions to make available to my managing editors.

What type of people am I looking for? Again, great technical skills are not needed. The ability to write would be an advantage, but not absolutely necessary. What is more needed are people who have a sincere interest in the state in which they live. A willingness to make contact with sources of content would be important. An inquiring mind would be a definite plus. Then perhaps hardest of all is a belief in the CommonVoice.com mission of allowing divergent voices.

What is the catch? Only two things come to mind:

1. Ultimate control goes to the executive editor. If I see an editor is taking the site in a direction divergent from the CommonVoice.com mission, I'll pull the plug.

2. While the managing editor will have control of certain areas of the site for ad sales, the executive editor reserves other areas for his control of ad placement.

Advantages?

This is a great opportunity to get involved! Through CommonVoice.com I have had the opportunity to meet people of influence that I never would have been able to meet otherwise. If you are willing to work to make your site an opinion leader, then you will see doors open for you.

It costs you nothing but your time - and maybe your sanity! There is no fee that must be paid to be involved. Zip. Zero. Nada.

It could actually make you some money. This isn't the primary reason for becoming an editor. However, the possibility is very real. The is a completely web based ad control system built into these sites. The managing editors can easily add both text and image ads to display on the site. They can set the rates and control display.

Interested? Contact me. Maybe you aren't interested but you know someone who would like to get involved in something like this - it doesn't matter what state they live in. Tell them about this opportunity. I'm looking for a few good editors!

How to undermine the new Pope

I found this email joke by a friend sort of funny. It is a remake of an old one. Of course, the last paragraph was the funniest to me.

NEW LANGUAGE

(AP) New Pope Benedict XVI of the Roman Catholic Church has just announced his first encyclical which has surprised many. Knowing Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to be a staunch German, an agreement whereby English (and not Latin) will be the official language of the RCC rather than German which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations with Queen Elizabeth, the Head of the Anglican Church, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5 year phase-in plan that would be known as "New World English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the"k". This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have 1 less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be ekspekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e"s in the language is disgraseful, and they should go away.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi to understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru! And zen ve vil tak over ze world!

In another developement, enemies of the new pope are trying to derail his first day on the job by starting a rumor that he is a graduate of Bob Jones University.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

The Stuff is back!

I'm not sure what has been up with Blogger for the last couple of days. I have not been able to update because of a java.net error that the Blogger system kept having when it tried to update the blog. So, the below blog should have been posted yesterday.

My stack is back in action now.

Heads up to CommonVoice.com readers. I am looking for someone to take my place - well sort of. If you would be interested in having your own "The Common Voice", contact me. I am looking for a managing editor that would take control of the South Carolina portion of the site. However, there is more that would be really cool for the person who takes up this opportunity - I can't talk about it right now though.

If you live in South Carolina (it would be great if you live in Columbia), you like keeping up with South Carolina news - especially politics -, and you would like to have an opportunity to influence South Carolina then this is something you might want to contact me about. Oh, there is possibility for some financial return as well - with no investment on your part but your time. Interested? Contact me.

I'll be giving out more information very soon! I'm excited about this next step for The Common Voice.

Monday, April 18, 2005

Texas Roundup

Note: Sorry for the delay in this post. Blogger.com is not connecting to my account at Pow Web Hosting.

It is tough to be second in points and still be fourth in the league! If only I had run Mikie instead of Nemechek! Michael was sixth. I would have won at Texas handily! Hindsight is always 20/20. :-(

Driver 8 Fan
3 - Jimmie Johnson
9 - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
10 - Rusty Wallace

Pait Racing
1 - Greg Biffle
15 - Jeff Gordon
17 - Joe Nemechek

Driver 8 Fan: 5 Wins 2 Losses (2797 pts.)
Bud_Man_Fan: 4 Wins 3 Losses (2461 pts.)
20Buck: 4 Wins 3 Losses (2384 pts.)
Pait Racing: 3 Wins 4 Losses (2577 pts.)
FreeAgents: 3 Wins 4 Losses (2241 pts.)
Boogity Boogity Boogity: 2 Wins 5 Losses (2307 pts.)

Me / Current Leader

Thursday, April 14, 2005

I'm worn out.

UPDATE: 4/18/2005 - I am having trouble posting my blog to this server from Blogger.com. Hope it will be resolved soon.

Well, at least I know what it is that has been keeping me down. I finally broke down and went to the doctor today. I have acute bronchitis and have had it for several weeks now. I finally gave in and set up an appointment when I was doubled over in pain all over my torso yesterday evening. I was coughing so much and so hard that it was pulling my muscles.

Thankfully, I now have some medicine that should start knocking this stuff out. Sorry to all you who I may not have responded to on email, etc. I hope to get around to those things soon. It has just been a couple of weeks of coming home from work and just crashing. A very tiring couple of weeks!

Monday, April 11, 2005

NEXTEL NASCAR Fantasy League Update

Well, I won but I lost. Being a Jeff Gordon fan, I was excited that he won the race yesterday. Unfortunately, 20Buck had an even better day with his drivers. Even though I lost this race, I moved up one spot.

20Buck
2 - Kasey Kahne
6 - Sterling Marlin
25 - Jamie McMurray

Pait Racing
1 - Jeff Gordon
10 - Joe Nemechek
29 - Greg Biffle

The good news is that Gordon has moved from 12th to 6th in the points. Biffle stays 2nd in points. Nemechek has also moved up - though he is still pretty far back. Who is that other guy on my team? Oh yeah, Mikie finished 30th and he is somewhere way back in the points.

Driver 8 Fan: 4 Wins 2 Losses (2360 pts.)
Bud_Man_Fan: 4 Wins 2 Losses (2142 pts.)
Pait Racing: 3 Wins 3 Losses (2152 pts.)
20Buck: 3 Wins 3 Losses (1996 pts.)
FreeAgents: 3 Wins 3 Losses (1968 pts.)
Boogity Boogity Boogity: 1 Win 5 Losses (1951 pts.)

Me / Current Leader

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Sunday's Sermons

Sunday Evening - Throwing Down Strongholds

Sunday Morning - Casualties of Spiritual Burnout

Praise the Lord! We had a special offering today for the last building project for our church (for a very long time) and the offering was $61,000! Soon we will be able to start putting our offerings towards missions and church planting. Hope the offerings will just a large then.

Friday, April 08, 2005

What's up with the ads?

If you have visited The Common Voice recently, you have probably noticed ads from Google Adsense have started to appear on the various pages. Take a look at StackOfStuff.net and you'll find the ads popping up there as well. I started displaying the ads the beginning of this week.

It is a simple way to get a few cents for all the time I have put into creating CommonVoice.com. The site is now nearly 4 years old. There are over 98,000 page views a month. That isn't nearly as good as many other sites, but many of those page views are returning users. I'm pretty satisfied that the site is beginning to come into its own. Getting a little cash is a nice motivation to keep the site fresh.

I'll let you into a little secret as well. You can take part in some big plans concerning CommonVoice.com that could be launching in the next couple of weeks. If you think you would like to be a part of it, contact me and I'll give you more details. It is a very limited opportunity, so the sooner I hear from you the better.

While you are at it, check out the advertisers that appear on the site. You might learn something and you'll be helping keep the editor motivated at the same time!

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Stuck on the 1%

The Globe and Mail: Possible U.S. ambassador to Canada close with Bush

I found the following paragraph to be interesting:
"Mr. Wilkins, for example, was a strong defender of Bob Jones University president Bob Jones III, who for years refused to lift the college's much-criticized ban on interracial dating. When Mr. Jones retired, Mr. Wilkins praised Mr. Jones for providing 'strong leadership and a lot of integrity and moral character.'"
It is like the author is trying as hard as possible to give the impression that the interracial daing ban is still in effect. In all of my dealings with the media, they simply cannot let go. Many in the black community and most of the community at large is willing to move on. However, the media just can't let go.

I was talking with a reporter from the Washington Post the other day. He kept going back to the '60s and asking why things were done a certain way. Finally, I told him, "Look, I was born in 1968. I can't tell you what people were thinking back then. It was a different time and a different culture. I can only speak to what is now." The bottom line is that the past is much more interesting to reporters because it is more sensational. They continue to ignore the 99% of what makes Bob Jones University in order to focus on 1% that they have decided defines the institution. Thankfully, Mr. Wilkins knows better.

Reporters do not know the circumstances surrounding Bob Jones III removing the ban. According to this reporter's criteria for "integrity and morality", the removal of the ban should be considered a support for the statement by the Speaker.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Healing for the Heels


www.tarheelblue.com


Forde: Tar Heels have a new label

Well, we have learned:

1. North Carolina not only has talent - they are a team.
2. North Carolina can play defense.
3. Roy Williams can win the "big one."

Way to go, Heels!

Monday, April 04, 2005

Sunday's Sermons

Breaking the Bondage to Money

Here is a topic that hits you in the pocketbook! A very convicting sermon. My liberal friends will love Sunday morning's sermon: Unusual Generosity

Bristol Bangup

Food City 500 Race Results

Get out the headache powders! Bristol was Bristol.

At least I was able to stay in the hunt for the fantasy league. The choice to bench Nemechek was the right one.

Driver 8 Fan: 3 Wins 2 Losses (1934 pts.)
Bud_Man_Fan: 3 Wins 2 Losses (1810 pts.)
FreeAgents: 3 Wins 2 Losses (1773 pts.)
Pait Racing: 3 Wins 2 Losses (1757 pts.)
20Buck: 2 Wins 3 Losses (1583pts.)
Boogity Boogity Boogity: 1 Win 4 Losses (1581 pts.)

Me / Current Leader

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Back in the saddle

What a week! I started out in bed sick with a sinus and bronchial infection. I probably should have stayed in bed on Tuesday as well, but I had to get to work. So, Tuesday and Wednesday I just went to work then came home and crashed!

Wednesday began my visit from Mr. Peter Carlson, a journalist with the Washington Post. I spent that day through Friday with him trying to help him to arrive at some understanding of the way Christian Funadmentalists (especially those at Bob Jones University) think. By the end of the week I was just plumb tuckered out! It was a great exercise for my brain. It was really like having someone visit from a foreign country. I am sure he was suffering from culture shock!

Today, I am digging out of the mess that has piled up. So, please forgive me those of you who have not heard from me in a while. I'll get to your messages...