These seems to happen every three to four months:

June 19, 2008: So Much for Thursday Thoughts…
September 8, 2008: Thunderfail strikes again!
January 9, 2009: Don’t Expect to Hear from Me by eMail for a While…

Now, April 20, and the same thing again. Thunderfail can receive mail but not send it. Mail server is fine. I can send through it using another mail program on the same computer I have Thunderfail on. So, it’s not a server issue. It’s not a computer issue. It’s a Thunderfail issue. I have not changed any settings either. And, if it’s like the last two times, it will mysteriously clear up in about a week, without me having done a single thing about it.

In the past, I tried re-installing Thunderfail and other things that were recommended, all to no effect. It just goes away after a few days. But, it is annoying and frustrating because I won’t be able to send mail through it for about a week now.

You see the pattern here? Every three to four months and Thunderfail inexplicable loses the ability to send mail. It makes no sense at all. If not for this, Thunderfail would be a good mail application. But this is just frustrating and annoying. I’ve given up on their support forums. You can’t expect much out of open source software.

I miss Eudora.

Today, Speedy posted a letter from himself from 2029.

Well, I don’t have a letter from myself, but fortunately I have this handy little time viewer that lets me see into the future. Or the past. But, it’s the future we want to see, so let’s take a look.

Don’t get too close! I think it may be radioactive. My hermit crabs, when I had them anyway, used to glow in the dark.

So, let’s see what we see… Incidentally, this post is post #1829, so let’s hope our time viewer doesn’t get too confused. Hold on, let me adjust the controls… Okay, here we are looking at 2029.

There’s me, standing in the local amphitheater. You’ll notice I don’t look any older than I do today. That’s because I’m a cartoon. Thus, you can see the benefit of being two-dimensional.

Well, there’s clearly no crowd, so I think we can ask myself some questions.

“Hey you! It’s me!”

“Who?”

“Me! Don’t you remember having this conversation with yourself?”

“Oh, is that today?”

“Yes. So, still living in Ohio?”

“Yeah. We get taxed out the wazoo here, but so does every place else, so it wasn’t worth the effort to move anywhere.”

“What’s the weather like?”

“It’s fine. The whole global warming disaster thing never happened, but we’re still paying taxes to fight it.”

“No one’s at the park?”

“The city needed money–we’re a city now. So I bought the park. Now I chase away kids, yelling ‘Get off my lawn!’ I find that amusing.”

“Anything else happening?”

“I just got an eMail from Slowcat–you know him as Speedcat but he calls himself Slowcat now. He says he’s writing a letter to himself for delivery in 2009. Like he can send a letter into the past. He’s still nuts.”

“He did do that, you know.”

“No, he made that all up. He doesn’t look anything like that photo he allegedly sent himself. For one thing, he doesn’t even wear pants these days. He moved to Texas too. He lives next door to Deborah.”

“Do you have any good stock tips?”

“Oh, yes! There’s one that’s around $10 right now in 2009. Buy 100 shares of it. It’s going to hit $625 in four years, but that’s after it split three times! It is…”

Ack! The time viewer shorted out. Argh! You know, you’d think I would have remembered this and mentioned the stock name earlier. Oh well.

Lots of people like a well-manicured lawn, like the image above. Nothing but neatly trimmed green blades of grass as far as the eye can see. Just green. Nothin’ but green.

Some people spend their time mowing and fertilizing and feeding and watering and mowing some more. All to get that golf course look. Some even mow it a certain way, so it looks like a baseball outfield. Some even go through the yard, pinpointing offending plants and spraying, flaming or plucking them out.

All to achieve the monotonous green.

As for me, I like a lawn spotted with dandelions. It adds a nice splash of color. Plus, dandelions are pretty low maintenance. People spend more time and money trying to kill them then you ever need to do to cultivate them!

And, when you’re not spending time and money trying to kill everything except the “holy blades of green,” you might end up with other splashes of color, like this:

With people making cutbacks in this economy, maybe it’s time to cut back on weed killers and such, and learn to appreciate color! Think of dandelions as little patches of sunshine throughout your yard. Who doesn’t appreciate sunshine?

A number of people on Twitter are all excited today. First of all, Ashton Kutcher (aplusk) beat CNN (cnnbrk) in a contest to see who could reach 1,000,000 followers first. On top of that, Oprah (oprah) joined Twitter today and already has almost 100,000 followers. She is also tweeting on her show today. So, Twitter can probably expect an influx of new users after today’s show airs. And, Oprah will probably have 1,000,000 followers shortly thereafter.

PC Magazine has an article today, entitled “Oprah and Ashton Will Destroy Twitter.” (Found by way of Guy Kawasaki.)

I don’t know that things will be quite as grim as the article paints it. But, I think we can expect a large influx of users that really won’t understand how things work, much like in the days of AOL. Back in the day, for those old enough to remember, AOL send floppy disks (later CDs) to virtually everyone. AOL really tried to get everyone on the service. New computer users gleefully signed up. Older computer users were thankful for the steady supply of floppy disks for file storage. (CDs were used for coasters or target practice.)

At any rate, AOL users gained a bad reputation. They were considered inexperienced, if not stupid. Long-time netizens would recognize that most people having problems, or causing problems, on the Internet were AOL users, many of whom had difficulties performing the most basic of tasks.

Of course, not all AOL users were that way, but with AOL’s almost excessive promotion, AOL more than any other service, gained a higher percentage of users that were largely clueless about how the Internet works. Many thought AOL was the Internet. (By comparison, many today think Google is the Internet.)

Experienced and power Internet users, if they started on AOL, moved to other service providers, typically a local ISP. Companies, news outlets and other services that had maintained large presences on AOL, slowly moved to the world wide web. AOL was even described as “an ISP with training wheels.” So, over time, those who stuck with AOL were viewed as somewhat akin to children by other Internet users. And, there are probably a number of people, from eCommerce site owners to technical support people, that can tell you “horror” stories from AOL users.

Of course, the stereotype is not fair. It’s certainly a wide swash of a brush to say that all AOL users are or were stupid, but it is a reputation that they, as a group, managed to acquire.

The concern here is whether this will happen to Twitter. How will these new users who hear about Twitter on Oprah view the service? Will the new influx of people be interested in becoming contributors and members of the community? Or, will they just be a bunch of celebrity gawkers hoping to find out the latest gossip from celebrities on Twitter? (Many of which won’t actually be tweeting themselves, but instead be “outsourcing” that service to PR reps.)

Will celebrity gawkers gushing about their favorite celebrities and obsessively tweeting them in the hopes of getting their attention and a reply clog up the service?

Perhaps it is up to the Twitter community to help show these people the ropes, so that they realize that Twitter is more than just a way to virtually stalk their favorite celebrities.

On the other hand, maybe they’ll just get bored when they don’t get enough of the gossip they’re after, and abandon the service as quickly as they joined.

And let’s just hope Twitter co-founder Evan Williams (ev) doesn’t jump up and down, excitedly, on Oprah’s couch while talking about the service.

OTHER ARTICLES:
OPRAH’S FIRST TWEET
How “@aplusk” and “@ev” Getting Sucked into Oprah will Change Twitter Forever, for Better or Worse
Oprah Hearts Twitter. So What?
Oprah’s first tweet so-so, but fans flock
Five Reasons Why Oprah Winfrey On Twitter Is A Disaster
Oprah’s on Twitter! - Live Updates
Twitter and the Oprah-effect
Oprah Hits Twitter, Earth Continues to Spin
Twitter Gets the Oprah Treatment
It’s Not the Recession, You Just Suck
Twitter Wars - Oprah, Ashton, CNN and You
Oprah Winfrey writes her first ‘tweet’ live
Oprah Makes Her Twitter Debut: Live Updates of Oprah’s Twitter Account
Should Oprah Be Allowed To Speak At BlogWorld?
Twitter on Oprah: The Biggest Test Yet
Twitter On Oprah: Will It Be A Boon Or Bust?
Will Oprah (@oprah) Ruin Twitter?
Mobile Twitter Game Heats Up; Oprah, Ashton Kutcher Fan the Flames
Oprah On Twitter and the Nosedive Begins
Oprah’s First Words on Twitter: “HI TWITTERS”
Oprah, Ashton Kutcher mark Twitter ‘turning point’
Twitter’s big tweet: Oprah
Are Oprah, Ashton Kutcher taking the geek out of Twitter?
Oprah Joins Twitter, But Is It Still Cool?
Oprah: Social Media Fantasy Campaign
But do they really get it?
And the Mighty Oprah’s First Tweet Is…
Oprah Tries Twitter, Crowns Ashton King of It
Oprah to Tweet on TV Today (Say That 10 Times Fast)
Thanks to Oprah, we can finally stop talking about Twitter
Audience cheers as Oprah writes first ‘tweet’
Oprah, Ashton Kutcher mark Twitter ‘turning point’
Kutcher, CNN and Oprah make Twitter’s day
From Twitter: Delays when following or unfollowing @aplusk
Oprah is a Twitter Maniac!
Twitter’s Big Day: Oprah Winfrey and Ashton Kutcher Bring Twitter to the Mainstream
Oprah Tweets, Twitterverse Freaks
Ashton Kutcher and Evan Williams Talk Twitter With Oprah [Video]
Oprah and Ashton and twitter… Oh My!
Oprah joins Twitter
And Twitter was never the same …
Oprah Crowns Kutcher King of Twitter
Look Out, Twitter: Here Comes Oprah
With Oprah Onboard, Twitter Grows
Ashton Kutcher Punks Twitter: A Giant Million Follower PR Stunt
Thousands sign up for Oprah’s 1st Tweet
Secret to Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter Success? Billboards

And, as if Oprah and her hoards of followers joining Twitter wasn’t enough, the “mickeyy” Twitter worm is back for another round!
Mikeyy Twitter Worm Returns with Message for @oprah (Also has advice for getting rid of it if your account is “infected” by the exploit.)
From Twitter: Defending against worm attack

I don’t know if I want to leave this photo up to your imagination. I don’t want to know what some of you might come up with, especially considering the comments on yesterday’s post. Oh, yeah, there weren’t any.

Anyway, these are dove eggs from April 4th. Angel, the dove, has since given up sitting on them. I would have posted a photo of her actually sitting on them, but those photos didn’t turn out well and, since she is no longer sitting on the eggs, I can’t do any retakes.

I’d explain what’s going on, but I think it may be more interesting if I leave it to your imagination.

For some reason, it looks like something from a Godzilla movie. Chihuahua terrorizes Tokyo… film at 11:00.

Now would be a good time to remind you about the chihuahua blog. Yes, it’s true I haven’t updated it in a while, but soon. Soon, I tell you, soon.

And, yes, I should probably post chihuahua pictures there instead of here all the time. But, then what would I post here on those days I haven’t had an opportunity to form a cogent thought?

Have I mentioned my eBook is being looked over by my test reader? I had three lined up, but, since getting the eBook ready to be looked over, have only heard back from the one person who is looking it over. And, I wrote some more stuff for it last night too. I think I’m over 54,000 words now. Lots of stuff. I just have a few things left that I want to add, plus making any changes or expanding on anything once I hear back from the test reader(s).

The test reader should be back to me on it this week. Hopefully I’ll hear from the other two soon too so that I can send their copies to them to review. Perhaps this weekend or the next I can finish it up.

Until then, look at the chihuahuas…

Okay, what some of you have been waiting for. Or, at least one or two of you. And maybe those two of you have already forgotten about it. So, here’s a reminder…

First, there was the sofa.

Then, there was the bed.

Then, over the weekend, you’ll remember this image:

So, what does that all lead to?

Well, it leads to a redhead stripping and posing on a bed. Make sure the kids aren’t around when you take a look!

Haven’t done this in a while, and had some requests from Twitter followers, so here we go again! These are just some of the odd search terms people have used in the past 30 days and wound up on my blog. Some are head-scratchers, some are weird, some are creepy and a few are even deeply disturbing. But, here they all are for your reading pleasure!

“How to Act Creepy” - Seriously, this one comes up a lot. Maybe I should write an eBook… (Currently #2 in Google.)

“bottled frustration” - I’m number 9 in Google, currently, for people looking for frustration in a bottle. I wonder if I could sell that?

“trek babe thumb” - Do you think some weirdo is trying to collect thumbs from Star Trek actresses, or what? Maybe he just wants a thumbprint. But, he just searched for thumb, not thumbprint. Run, Jolene, run!

“creepy underwear” - I’m currently #4 for this in Google. Is there some untapped market here I should be looking into?

“hot men underwear” - I bet there’s a site that sells posters of men in their underwear. Maybe I could sign up as an affiliate…

“vanessa hudgens dirty pictures” - They found me on page 2 in Yahoo, but I’ve since moved up to #5 on page 1!

“david hasselhoff in his underwear” - #9 in Google, currently. I think this one is Michelle’s fault.

“teenagers nude” - This one is just disturbing, unless they’re 18 and 19. I’m not sorting through the search results to see where I’m ranked either!

“photos of creepy loo” - Who searches for this stuff?

“dcr tear duct fears” - I’m currently #4 for this, and I’m not even sure what it means. Is it the fear of crying? Or, is it the fear that you’ll need to cry but your tear ducts will be clogged so the tears will just well up inside and the pressure will cause your eyeballs to bulge out and then the tear duct explodes, releasing tears behind the eyeball, which makes it itch and burn because of all that salt in the tears, so then the tears are flowing down your cheeks, but you can’t touch your burning eyeballs because they’re still popped out of the socket and it hurts and it burns. Okay, I guess that would be something to be afraid of.

“act creepy” - Currently #3 in Google for this. Again, maybe I need to write an eBook.

“the first thing you think of sodium is salt” - Clearly, Mr. Obvious uses Google.

“pictures with men in female underwear” - Currently #2 in Google.

“underwear men model picture” - Currently #9 in Google. You know, if people were searching for women, I’d think about setting up a photography studio…

“dcr operation blog” - Currently #1 in Google. Wait… Does that mean I need an operation, or that you can come here for an operation?

“model pictures guys” - #22 in Google.

“nude search” - Look, I really don’t need to know how you search…

“breathe believe act achieve” - Of course you need to breathe before you can believe, act and achieve. I just thought that was a given!

“pics of kids in underwear” - #6 in Google for this currently. There are no pics of kids in their underwear on this blog!

“kids swimwear pics” - Currently #10 in Google. You know, I’d like to think that it’s parents doing these searches, looking for swimwear for their kids for the summer but (a) it’s April and (b) would they include “pics” in their search???

“man and woman in bikini” - #2 in Live Search for this one. Okay, so normal people search thru MSN, and pedophiles use Google?

“how to stop dcr hotlinking” - But, I don’t hotlink, unless it’s to one of my own sites. I’ve being framed, I tell you, framed!

“nude guy” - Don’t know where I rank for Google on this one either. You can investigate, if you like, and report back.

“dcr surgery blog” - #8 in Google for this. Is this why Hey Lola (sometimes NSFW) calls me Dr. Blogs?

“miniature psychiatrist” - Currently #2 in Google for this. Thanks Greeneyezz!

“how to make achieve for blogs” - #3 in Google. But, can someone who barely knows English explain what that means? I’m thinking someone who barely knew English searched for that, so someone else who barely knows English might be able to interpret it. Then again, you’d probably just say it means “how to make achieve for blogs” thus resulting in circular logic that, though someone who barely knows English may understand someone else who barely knows English, neither one of them will be able to explain it in an English that those who know English know. So, never mind.

“aprons dotted nude” - So, were they looking for nude colored aprons with dots or aprons that were dotted by someone in the nude? Would men buy aprons made or decorated by naked women?

“if you aim for the stars” - Currently #9 in Google, but can’t help but thinking there should have been more to that search query. If you aim for the stars, um, what?

“naked women wearinf aprons” - Well, at least the Yahoo searchers aren’t pedophiles but they’re not great spellers either.

“dotted nude aprons” - Okay, so this one was a little clearer.

“how do I act creepy” - #4 in Google. How much should I sell a “How to Act Creepy” eBook for?

“pictures of naked women with tails” - Currently #2 in Google for this. Maybe there’s a market for images of nude women with like tiger tails or dog tails or maybe even lizard tails glued on or something?

“You feed me ground round” - I hope it’s cooked! Currently #2 in Google.

“how long do I soak wooden handle kitchen tools in mineral oil?” - Currently #4 in Google. Woohoo! Wait, I don’t sell mineral oil… And make sure you use food grade mineral oil.

Well, there you go. As you can see, no one searches for pig pencil sock helmets, which I dominate in Google.

Here are the Easter ducks, waddling through the neighborhood to wish everyone a Happy Easter. They almost stopped long enough for this picture to be taken, so that they could wish everyone on the Internet–that is the five of you who read this blog–a Happy Easter too!

The ducks are okay, but can I interest anyone in an Easter groundhog? Anyone? Free to a good home.

Actually, the photo was from last Sunday, but that doesn’t make for as cute a story now, does it? The pre-Easter ducks? The Palm Sunday ducks?