Saturday 9: It's a Jungle Out There

Saturday 9: It's a Jungle Out There (Theme from Monk) (2003)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This week's song is the theme from the detective show that ran from 2002-2009. Were you a fan?

A. I have never seen this show.

2) The song warns us about the air we breathe and the water we drink. Does your home have an air or water filter?

A. My home has both types of filters.

3) The lyrics say, "People say I'm crazy to worry all the time." Are you a worrier? Or do you just take things as they come?

A. I worry. As my husband says, if it is there, I worry about it.

4) TV's Adrian Monk is known for his outstanding deductive powers, an homage to Sherlock Holmes. Have you read any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books featuring Sherlock Holmes?

A. Yes. I took a class in detective literature and read several of his books then.

5) Monk was also known for fastidiousness and precision, an homage to Hercule Poirot. Have you read any of Agatha Christie's books featuring Poirot?

A. Yes, in the class I mentioned in #4.

6) This song was written and performed by Grammy and Emmy winner Randy Newman. Do you have any trophies or plaques?

A. I have my three college degrees, about a dozen Virginia Press Association Awards, some short story and poetry awards, and there are plaques in two of the county libraries with my name on them because I was on the county library board and helped oversee construction on the buildings. (One was a renovation, the other was a brand new library.)

P.S. I have disliked Randy Newman ever since he did that song Short People.

7) Before winning an Oscar in 2001, Mr. Newman had the distinction of having the most nominations (15) without a win. Do you consider yourself a graceful loser?

A. I hope so.

8) In 2003, when this song was introduced, Lance Armstrong won his fifth Tour de France. Later, he was disgraced in a doping scandal. Can you think of a time when a hero disappointed you?

A. Yes. Actually I can think of many times multiple people that I had high regard for disappointed me. They're still around so I won't mention names or events, except for one: a person I was friends with, in real life and on Facebook, unfriended me and refuses to respond to my query as to why (we share the same politics and I don't post much political stuff anyway, so I am sure that wasn't it). I didn't do anything so I don't know what brought that on. Her loss, but I am disappointed. Not exactly a hero story but there you go.

9) Random question -- We're catering lunch. Should we put you down for a burger or a taco?

A. Can I please simply have the house salad? My ulcers are acting up.
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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

Thursday Thirteen #565

1. Fast lane

2. A highway.

3. Slow lane.

4. Two lanes.

5. Single lane.

6. Dirt road.

7. Brick road.

8. Path.

9. Trail.

10. Alley

11. Interstate

12. Byway

13. Boulevard

Now, can you think of songs that have those types of roads in them?
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Life in the fast lane

Life is a highway

Follow the yellow brick road

There's an interstate running through the back yard, you know, he thinks he's got it so good.

The boulevard is not that bad.

What about the others?

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 565th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Trapped In A Web

If You Want Him, Come and Claim Him

Arwen with Frodo
Colored pencil

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. You’re in a tattoo parlor about to get inked. What are you getting done?

A. I think I'd have a dragon.

2. If you could be any character, from any literary work, who would you choose to be?

A. I would be Nancy Drew. That's not exactly "literary" but "literary" is such a nebulous description. If that doesn't work, then I would want to be Molly Weasley from the Harry Potter series, and if I must be even more literary, then I shall be Galadriel from Lord of the Rings. Actually, maybe I'll just be Galadriel.

3. You’re given $10,000. There is one condition: you cannot keep the money for yourself. Who would you give it to?

A. I would give it to either my local library or to my alma mater. If I have to give it to a person, then I would divide it into 10 sets of $1,000 and go check with Social Services to see who would need it most.

4. If you had to go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?

A. I would not have left my job at an attorney's office in 1985. I'd have stayed there. That means I'd have never been a news reporter, probably, but financially it would have offered more stability.

5. If you had to delete one year of your life completely, which would it be?

A. Well, 2013 kind of sucked because I had surgery and 60 ulcers.

6. You’re an action movie hero. What’s your weapon of choice and the line you scream when defeating your arch enemy?

A. My weapon of choice would be A Shout (from The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, and basically a word spell), and after I defeated my arch enemy I would say, "I told you not to mess with me."

7. What is the first curse word that comes to mind?

A. F&ck. I'm afraid I overuse that one anymore.

8. Would you rather be stranded on a desert island with someone you love for ten years or someone you hate for a month? Explain why.

A. I would rather be stranded for a month with a someone I hate because I would only be there a month, which is a very short time compared to 10 years. Besides, I don't actually hate anyone and I would think that if you're stranded somewhere, after a few weeks you'd have to start cooperating. Or you could go to the other side of the island and be by yourself if you had to. Also, I would not want my loved one stranded somewhere, even if it was with me.

9. 5 things within touching distance:

A. A glass, a Burts Bees chapstick, a notebook, a ukulele, a box of tissues.

10. What are you supposed to be doing right now?

A. Exactly what I am doing.

11. Currently wanting to see anyone?

A. I always want to see my husband and my friends, but at the moment, after an overwhelming week, being alone has benefits.

12. Would you go against your moral code for money?

A. That rather depends on which part of my moral code I'm breaking. Break a little law like going over the speed limit? Sure, I would probably do that. Break a big law like killing someone? No, I would not do that. This question is too ambiguous to answer properly.

13. What’s more important to you: strength of the body or strength of the mind?

A. Strength of the mind. It would be nice to have both.

14. How important you think education is?

A. I think education is the most important thing in the world and the best thing a person can do for herself.

15. If you were the president, what would you do?

A. What a loaded question. I would ask Congress to implement universal healthcare (Medicare for all). I would ask for funding to increase the number of people overseeing government programs like welfare so that caseloads could be sufficiently managed. (I would cut out a few expensive military items to pay for that.) I would return the National Parks oversight to the government and take it out of private hands. I would return the EPA to its previous state (pre-#45) and increase scientific research funding for energy needs as well as healthcare needs, so that we could decrease our dependency on limited resources and instead switch to unlimited resources, like the sun, and cure diseases. I would increase taxes on people who make over $250,000 a year and lower them on people who make less. (Did you know that in 1945 the tax rate for high income earners was 86%? That is true. That was the year it was decreased from 90%.) I would improve educational opportunities for everyone through national college system of some sort. I would tax churches. I would improve roads and rail travel so that we are on par with better-developed countries like Japan and depend less on vehicles. I would like to make the United States a fairer place for everyone. But I will never be president so it really doesn't matter.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: The Nanny

Saturday 9: The Nanny (1993)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This week's song is the theme from a sitcom that originally aired from 1993 to 1999. Were you a fan?

A. No. I did not watch this show.

2) The song tells us that Fran once worked in a bridal shop. Have you ever worked in a retail setting?

A. I had a friend who set up a "general store" type establishment in downtown Roanoke back in the mid-1990s. I worked for her for about a year, helping stock and acting as a sales clerk. I learned a lot. For one thing, the markup on everything is at least 100% but frequently as much as 300%. That is why stores can have big sales - they have lots of room to lower prices before they reach their actual purchase price.

3) The kids in the Sheffield household appreciate their nanny's "joie de vivre," which is defined as "exuberant enjoyment of life." Are you feeling joie de vivre this morning?

A. I rarely feel joie de vivre.

4) "The Nanny" is the colorful one, the one who wears red when everyone else wears tan. What color do you think you look best in?

A. Blue or black.

5) The TV show, The Nanny, was the brainchild of actress Fran Drescher. She got the idea while visiting her an old friend in London. Her friend's pre-teen daughter enjoyed having Fran as a confidante and shopping buddy. Do you enjoy shopping as a leisure activity? Or would you prefer to just dash into a store, grab what you need, and get out and go home?

A. I go in, grab what I need, and get out of there. The exception would be book stores, electronic shops, and office supply stores. I don't mind lingering in those places. But dress stores? Shoe stores? Blah.

6) The friend Fran was visiting in London was Twiggy, who was the world's most famous model in the 1960s. Name another famous model.

A. Cindy Crawford.

7) The Nanny: The Complete Series is available on DVD on Amazon. It consists of 19 discs and takes 55 hours to watch, start to finish. What TV show have you recently binge watched?

A. The last show I binge-watched was Downton Abby and that has been at least a year ago if not longer. I don't generally binge-watch TV. Actually I don't watch that much TV, comparatively speaking.

8) The Nanny theme was sung by Liz Callaway. Her father, the late John Callway, was a long-time Chicago newscaster. Have you, or has a loved one, ever been on TV?

A. I have been on TV, a very long time ago. It had something to do with school. Oh shoot, I was in a TV news interview not that long ago. Duh. Here's a link: http://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/Proposal-for-new-substation-in-Botetourt-485193201.html

9) Random question -- Which of these adjectives comes closest to describing you: sexy, sophisticated or down-to-earth?

A. Down-to-earth, I suppose. I'm certainly not sexy, and I don't think of myself as sophisticated.
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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. (#245)

Nice Work

Last weekend we went to the play by the local theater group. Attic Productions, located just outside of Fincastle, puts on some splendid theater, but we don't take advantage of it often enough.

The play we saw was Nice Work if You Can Get It, with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin.

We attended a Saturday matinee and it was full of people. I am pleased that so many folks support this local effort.

This play appeared on Broadway in 2012; it's first production was in 2001.

The story is set in the late 1920s. The basic premise is a rich playboy is trying to marry a decent girl so his mother will let him run the family business. This is his third marriage. In the interim, he runs into a bootlegger (a female) and the bootlegger steals his wallet and decides to use his second house as a storage facility for her illegal hooch.

Hilarity ensues.

We enjoyed ourselves, as we generally do when we manage to make it out. The play shows this weekend for its final time locally, so if you have a chance, check it out. It's a lot of fun.

Thursday Thirteen

1. Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun. ~ Kent Nerburn

2. August, the summer's last messenger of misery, is a hollow actor. ~ Henry Rollins

3. Every year, August lashes out in volcanic fury, rising with the din of morning traffic, its great metallic wings smashing against the ground, heating the air with ever-increasing intensity. ~ Henry Rollins

4. Woodstock happened in August 1969, long before the Internet and mobile phones made it possible to communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere. It was a time when we weren't able to witness world events or the horrors of war live on 24-hour news channels. ~ Richie Havens

5. Summertime, and the reading is easy... Well, maybe not easy, exactly, but July and August are hardly the months to start working your way through the works of Germanic philosophers. Save Hegel, Heidegger, and Husserl for the bleaker days of February. ~ Michael Dirda

6. Though my conduct on the 10th of August 1792 was the act of my life of which I have most reason to be proud, I will here merely do homage to the worthy martyrs of the national sovereignty and the sworn laws, who, while they supported constitutional royalty, manifested the highest degree of republican virtue. ~ Marquis de Lafayette (The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 was a defining event of the French Revolution.The storming of the Tuileries Palace by the National Guard of the Paris Commune and fédérés from Marseille and Brittany caused the fall of the French monarchy.)

7. I can recall back in 1998, in August of that year, when we had a horrible disaster along the Mexican border in the town of Del Rio. At the time, FEMA was the shining star of the federal government. It's now perceived as many to be the dullest knife in the drawer. Right or wrong, that's the perception. ~ Henry Bonilla

8. In August most of Europe goes on holiday. ~ Tony Visconti

9. I kept having the producers of 'Fog in August' take out some of the Nazi terms and phrases. I don't want audiences to look at this doctor and say, 'He is a Nazi monster' and think that it has nothing to do with our lives today. ~ Sebastian Koch

10. On Sunday August 5, 2012, I was among a group of people who witnessed the Rover landing on Mars in real time at NASA's Caltech-managed Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. ~ Ahmed Zewail

11. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. ~ Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

12. August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time. ~ Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

13. The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. ~ Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting
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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 564th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

When Dishwashers Die A Violent Death

Sunday morning I padded into the kitchen to make tea. I noticed a dark color on the parquet flooring near a cushion mat at the sink.

Upon removing the mat, we found that the dishwasher had leaked badly. Perhaps it has been leaking for sometime, I don't know. If so, I never noticed the water. I have someone who helps me with the mopping once a month and she said she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary there last month. So maybe it has only been leaking a week or so. I have no way to know.

My husband and nephew yanked the dishwasher out of the wall and carried it outside.

I called the insurance company to see if our policy covered this type of thing. It does. Boy, do they move fast when you tell them you're allergic to mold.

Where the dishwasher sat. See the dark colored wood? Damaged wood.

The water went to the sides of the dishwasher, and up the cabinets.

This was the worse damage to the floor.

This doesn't look so good either. That's the side of the kitchen cabinet.

What to do?

This is the bottom of the dishwasher. My husband said this is the pump casing and it split apart.

By 4:30 Monday, a "mitigation team" was out here and they determined all that wood had to come up. ::sniff:: My beautiful parquet floor.

Because the glue was wet (and 30 years old), it came up fairly easily.

This damage is troubling, to say the least.

I kept this floor looking nice for 30 years. They last if you take care of them.

Now I don't know what happens next. The insurance company will decide my floor's fate, I suppose.

The "mitigation" guy said he was going to recommend that the entire floor be replaced. This flooring is no longer available so there is no way we can match it up. Unfortunately the flooring runs into the dining room area as well. We have an open floor concept (we were ahead of our time apparently when we built in 1987) and so the dining room and kitchen run together. That is why there was parquet in the kitchen to begin with.

This looks like the beginning of a very long process.

You Have the Wrong Narrative

Last night I dreamed I was in a crumbling city, a world falling to pieces.

A crew of people were with me, but I'm not sure who they were. Warriors of some kind, I think (maybe my imaginary friends from The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim). They went around the corner and stopped.

I moved forward and went from apocalypse to Alice in Wonderland, a colorful corner of the world's ending where a woman named Jaquelyne (she spelled it for me twice) wearing a tailored suit with leggings and a top hat, brought me up short.

"You have the wrong narrative," she said.

"I know what a narrative is," I replied. "I'm a writer."

"You have the wrong narrative," she said again.

"What's wrong with it?" I wanted to know. I looked around but I was alone now. My warriors had vanished.

"You have the wrong narrative."

She kept repeating this, twirling around, producing a cane from somewhere and doing a little two-step.

"You have the wrong narrative."

Then, in the way of dreams, I found I was at a baptism. My father came in dressed in a blue robe and said he was Elvis. He was followed by lots of other people in blue robes, and someone handed me one and told me to put it on.

"I don't want to wear this," I said.

The woman with the top hat popped back into my dream.

"You have the wrong narrative," she said, and then danced away, twirling her cane.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. First thing you wash in the shower?

A. My face. I save my ass for last.

2. What colour is your favourite hoodie?

A. I don't wear hoodies.

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

A. Yes, since that was my husband.

4. Do you plan outfits?

A. Not usually.

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now?

A. I'm mad, upset, and frustrated because my dishwasher for well over a month has apparently been seeping water into the kitchen cabinets and under the parquet flooring (hardwood flooring) and now we have major water damage that I just discovered when I was making tea at 7:15 a.m.

6. What’s the closest thing to you that's red?

A. A paperback Webster's dictionary.

7. Tell me about the last dream you remember having?

A. I dreamed last night that I was trying to explain to someone what a guitalele is and why I was playing it.

8. Did you meet anybody new today?

A. I met the Lowe's delivery people when they brought out the new dishwasher (I had already known I needed to replace the dishwasher, I just didn't know it was leaking all over everything. So it had already been ordered.)

9. What are you craving right now?

A. Chocolate.

10. Do you floss?

A. Yes.

11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage?

A. Soup.

12. Are you emotional?

A. Terribly so. And these questions are making me cry so much that my keyboard is going to break because it is now waterlogged like my kitchen floor.

13. Have you ever counted to 1,000?

A. Yes.

14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it?

A. I don't eat ice cream. I eat frozen yogurt but I like it a little melted.

15. Do you like your hair?

A. It's okay. I call it "soft white" like a GE light bulb.

16. Do you like yourself?

A. No, and as far as I know I never have.

17. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush?

A. If he was paying.

18. What are you listening to right now?

A. The sound of the fans in the kitchen as we try to dry out the wet floor and cabinets, the sound of my fingers on the keys of my computer keyboard as I answer this, and the sound of my tears falling because I'm so terribly emotional a la question #12.

19. Are your parents strict?

A. I am too old for that to matter anymore.

20. Would you go sky diving?

A. Yes, preferably without a parachute.

21. Do you like cottage cheese?

A. No.

22. Have you ever met a celebrity?

A. I've met a lot of politicians who are famous, so I suppose so.

23. Do you rent movies often?

A. I didn't know anybody rented movies anymore.

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in?

A. I am not into sparkly. I don't think there's anything sparkly in my house.

25. How many countries have you visited?

A. Four.

26. Have you made a prank phone call?

A. Yes, when I was young.

27. Ever been on a train?

A. Yes.

28. Brown or white eggs?

A. I don't care.

29. Do you have a cell-phone?

A. Yes. Were these questions written in 1989 or something?

30. Do you use Chap Stick?

A. I use Burt's Bee Lip Moisturizer.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: Along Comes a Friend

Saturday 9: Along Comes a Friend (Theme from Kate and Allie) (1984)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This week's song is the theme from Kate and Allie, a sitcom that ran from 1984 to 1989. Were you a fan?

A. I watched it and enjoyed it.

2) The show was about two divorced women who live and raise their children together. Were you ever a single parent? Were you raised by a single parent?

A. I have never been a parent and my parents were together when I was a child.

3) Allie is proud that she can make a perfect cup of coffee: "Just the essence of the bean. No acidity." Kate is proud that she can belch the alphabet. What are you proud of?

A. I am proud of my college degrees and my body of writing. It may not be a novel but I have published thousands of articles.

4) Kate and Allie share half of a duplex in Greenwich Village. Many episodes had them doing laundry in the basement. Where are your washer and dryer?

A. They are off the kitchen.

5) Kate was played by Susan St. James. She was familiar to viewers as the "wife" in McMillan and Wife. Without looking it up, do you know who played McMillan?

A. I have no idea. I never watched the show.

6) Allie was played by Jane Curtin. She was one of three women in the original Saturday Night Live cast. Without looking it up, can you name the other two?

A. Gildna Radner and . . . I guess I don't know. I'm not even sure about Radner. This does not surprise me because I did not watch much of SNL.

7) On the set, Jane Curtin ran a poker game for the cast and crew. Do you think winning at poker takes more luck or skill?

A. Winning at anything takes skill.

8) The Kate & Allie theme was cowritten and sung by John Lefler. Years later, Mr. Lefler wrote the theme for the Pokemon show. Is anyone in your life into Pokemon?

A. Nope. I tried to download the Pokemon Go app when I first went crazy and bought a smart phone back in September, but I couldn't get it to work. So much for that.

9) Random question: What's the last thing you whispered?

A. When my husband and I were at Cracker Barrell a while back, there was guy sitting next to us who looked like Glenn on Swamp People, and I leaned over and whispered, "That's Glenn on Swamp People finally getting his first date" into my husband's ear. (The last episodes of the season showed Glenn getting dressed up, trimming his hair, and attempting to go on his first date (he did not succeed because he wore no shoes and the restaurant wouldn't let him in.).) My husband laughed.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

Testing A Post

This is a test post.

Not exactly a post.

I Got the Blogger Blues

For the last two months or so, my blog has not been working properly.

Neither has many other people's. This apparently came about as something to do with changes made to adhere to European Union requirements or some such. I don't know.

Anyway, it used to be that people would comment on my blog and I'd get an email notification that they'd comment. Unless the blogger comment was a "no reply" comment, I could email the person directly and we could, and frequently did, carry on a conversation between just the two of us.

The emails stopped coming.

The notifications that I have posted a blog have also stopped. I used to receive a notification every time I posted a blog and that was good, because sometimes I prepare these things days in advance and I would set them to post at various days and times. Seeing the email let me know the blog post had appeared as it was supposed to. *Update* A Miracle! This blog post appeared in my email!

None of this stuff works now. I have made all the changes I've found on the blogger forum. Nothing made a difference.

Finally yesterday I left a post on the forum asking for help. So far, nothing, but I honestly don't expect anything different.

I try now to remember to check my blog more frequently for comments, but after over 10 years of receiving email comments it is taking time to make that a habit.

Wordpress in the past did not impress me when I tried it, but it may be time to start looking for another blogging venue. I hate to do that because I really love this blog. I've put vast amounts of time into it and worked hard on it and while it certainly isn't the most-read blog out there, I do have some readers.

Blogger has been easy and worked well. I don't know why big companies always have to mess stuff up and simply can't leave well enough alone. I know change is the only thing you can count on, and this blog is free, so I really can't complain too much. I also know, though, that my blog, like countless others, brings traffic to google and since I have a few google ads on my blog, there is a small bit of cashflow (very small, but still something).

I am not going anywhere - yet. I am trying to learn to live with this particular problem and hoping that it somehow magically fixes itself (sometimes that does happen with technological concerns). In the meantime, if you have experienced this problem and found a fix, feel free to leave it in my comment section.

Hopefully I will remember to check back here and I'll see it, since I am no longer notified of comments.

Thursday Thirteen

Tips for sorting out your news:

1. Avoid websites that end in “lo” ex: Newslo (Newslo is now found at Politicops.com). These sites take pieces of accurate information and then package that information with false or misleading “facts” (sometimes for the purposes of satire or comedy).

2. Watch out for common news websites that end in “.com.co” as they are often fake versions of real news sources (remember: this is also the domain for Colombia!)

3. Watch out if known/reputable news sites are not also reporting on the story. Sometimes lack of coverage is the result of corporate media bias and other factors, but there should typically be more than one source reporting on a topic or event.

4. Odd domain names generally equal odd and rarely truthful news.

5. Lack of author attribution may, but not always, signify that the news story is suspect and requires verification.

6. Some news organizations let bloggers post under the banner of particular news brands; however, many of these posts do not go through the same editing process (ex: BuzzFeed Community Posts, Kinja blogs, Forbes blogs).

7. Check the “About Us” tab on websites or look up the website on Snopes or Wikipedia for more information about the source.

8. Bad web design and use of ALL CAPS can also be a sign that the source you’re looking at should be verified and/or read in conjunction with other sources.

9. If the story makes you REALLY ANGRY it’s probably a good idea to keep reading about the topic via other sources to make sure the story you read wasn’t purposefully trying to make you angry (with potentially misleading or false information) in order to generate shares and ad revenue.

10. It’s always best to read multiple sources of information to get a variety of viewpoints and media frames. Sources such as The Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, and Fox News vacillate between providing important, legitimate, problematic, and/or hyperbolic news coverage, requiring readers and viewers to verify and contextualize information with other sources.

11. Look at the quotes in a story, or rather, look at the lack of quotes. Most publications have multiple sources in each story who are professionals and have expertise in the fields they talk about. If it's a serious or controversial issue, there are more likely to be quotes — and lots of them. Look for professors or other academics who can speak to the research they've done. And if they are talking about research, look up those studies.

12. See who said the quotes, and what they said. Are they a reputable source with a title that you can verify through a quick Google search? Say you're looking at a story and it says President Obama said he wanted to take everyone's guns away. And then there's a quote. Obama is an official who has almost everything he says recorded and archived. There are transcripts for pretty much any address or speech he has given. Google those quotes. See what the speech was about, who he was addressing and when it happened. Even if he did an exclusive interview with a publication, that same quote will be referenced in other stories, saying he said it while talking to the original publication.

13. For more tips on analyzing the credibility and reliability of sources, please check out School Library Journal (they also provide an extensive list of media literacy resources) and the Digital Resource Center.

Tips from NPR and this recommended resource.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 563rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

The Ring Wraiths Chase Frodo

Colored Pencil

When You're So Mad You Could Just Spit

Today I am angry.

This is how angry I am.

Spit. Spit. Spit. Spit. Hooey. Spit. Spit. Spit. Spit. Spit. Hooey. Spit. Spit. Spit. Spit. Hooey.

Somewhere in there, there should be lots of curse words, like !*&$(#%*#)(_#%*()#*()#%*)(!@*()#%*()!*()$)(*#%*()!*()!@*()$!@$)*(*()$@)(#_)!@#*()$()*#!$*)($

And then more spitting.