A little behind the scenes info for visitors to IM.

The other day somebody was asking if there was an alert to let people know when I am about to put up a new post.

Simply put, nuh uh.

However I am nothing if not a creature of habit. And if you have been paying attention you should have recognized a rather obvious pattern.

I almost always put up seven posts a day. (Occasionally that number drops by one or two, but that is the exception to the rule.)

Before I go to bed at night I write three robo-posts that will publish while I am in La La Land.  One at 2 AM, one at 4 AM, and one around 6 AM. (Though I am usually awake before this last one hits the internet.)

I also have my I-Pad on the bed next to me, like a totally non-cuddly teddy bear, so if you see that comments have been published in the middle of the night that is often because I had to get up and pee, or had that nightmare where a hairless, floppy breasted, Sarah Palin tries to seduce me again. ("Oh God, oh God, make it stop!")

When I finally do wake up, which is usually around five, I immediately stumble into my office and fire up the old computer and then continue upstairs to start my morning coffee. (It's a bitch when I get these two confused.)

After that I come back downstairs, where I sit at my desk and peer through my bleary bloodshot eyes at the monitor to start sorting through the comments that I did not get through the night before.

After I have finished that I stumble back upstairs, often tripping over my daughter's dog, and then get a cup of piping hot inspiration juice.

Back downstairs and the day officially begins.

I also have an actual job so that is often what I work on for the majority of the morning, but I do like to type another post before 9:00 AM my time. (I also fit in an hour and a half or two hour workout in there as well at least five days a week.)

My usual modus operandi is to put up a post every two, two and half, or three hours.

Usually that goes something like this:

2 AM Alaska time (6:00 AM EST)
4 AM Alaska time (8:00 AM EST)
6:15 AM Alaska time (10:15 EST)
9 AM Alaska time ( 1:00 PM EST)
12 PM Alaska time (4:00 PM EST)
2:30 PM Alaska time (6:30 PM EST)
4:30 PM Alaska time (8:30 PM EST)

If you go back several days you will see that I adhere to this schedule almost religiously.

Now what this does not take into account are stories that break during the day which require an immediate response, updates to posted stories as new information becomes available, and of course comments that arrive any damn time they want which add interesting details or clarification to a post.

So hopefully this will be of some use for those who are worried that they are going to miss anything earth shattering.

However this does NOT mean you should stop obsessively checking IM every five minutes. Because then I'll start to miss you, and that's not good.

Boy Scouts lose their largest corporate donor due to discriminatory policies against gay people. In other news, Chick-fil-A is run by lying scumbags!

Courtesy of the Advocate:

The Boy Scouts of America has lost its largest corporate donor, Intel, which announced today that it will stop giving to the group unless it vows to stop discriminating against gay people. 

The Intel Foundation was identified in an investigation by The American Independent, which was also posted by The Advocate, as having given about $700,000 in 2010 to the Boy Scouts. It was by far the largest share of corporate giving, with the Verizon Foundation donating more than $300,000 several big banks reaching the $100,000 range. 

A petition calling on Intel to end its support gathered more than 30,000 signatures in little more than 24 hours. It's now been updated, proclaiming, "Victory!" Leading that push was activist Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout raised by two lesbian moms. He first got involved in the cause against the Scouts, which bans gays and lesbians from being troops or leaders, after mother Jennifer Tyrrell was removed as a den leader earlier this year.

Well that's good news. And I certainly hope that OTHER organizations start recognizing that their support for discriminatory organizations can effect their bottom dollar as well.

I also hope that the fine folks at Intel are more trustworthy and dedicated to progress than that douchebag at Chick-fil-A Dan Cathy.

This according to Progressive Cop:

Apparently Chick-fil-A reached the agreement with an outspoken Chick-fil-A critic and Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno that would resolve the whole mess. Chick-fil-A wants to expand their operations into the Windy City but in order to do that they needed to stop the outspoken alderman from publicly opposing the expansion. Thus a deal was struck; or so it appeared. Chick-fil-A would cease funding anti-LBGT groups among other concessions and in turn Alderman Moreno would cease opposing their expansion into Chicago. 

Just as my taste buds were getting geared up for an all night chicken binge I learned that both I and Alderman Moreno had been duped. You see, it appears that just days after Chick-fil-A had agreed to stop funding bigoted groups, Dan Cathy on September 18th, tweeted a photo from a fund raiser for the anti-LBGT group Marriage and Family Foundation. 

WinShape Ride for the Family bikers locked and loaded for 200 mile ride to Wilmington out of Charleston. twitter.com/dancathy/statu…
— Dan T. Cathy (@dancathy) September 19, 2012

The WinShape Foundation which Chick-fil-A operates was hosting a 200 mile couple’s motorcycle ride called “WinShape Ride for the Family” with an entry fee of $3,500 per couple with options to pledge $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 to Marriage and Family Foundation. In order not to appear to be donating to the group, participants were asked to make checks payable to Marriage and Family Foundation and not the WinShape Foundation or Chick-fil-A. Sponsorship packages were reported to have displayed the Chick-fil-A logo as well as that of the WinShape Foundation. 

While Dan Cathy and the folks at Chick-fil-A have claimed to stand for Christian principles, their actions have proven to be anything but Christian. In their actions against the LBGT community, they have proven themselves to be bigoted, aggressive, and intolerant. They clearly do not love their neighbors as they do themselves and now they have outright lied to elected officials and to the public for monetary gain.

So Christian of them to lie to the American people in order to sell a few more artery clogging chicken sandwiches, don't you think?

Well it looks like it is time to take some of that money that we might have spent destroying our health with fast food, and instead use it to invest in a new computer.

I wondered why my computer had been running so slow. Opened it up and found this.

"One ringy dingy, two ringy dingies.."

Anybody remember Lily Tomlin as Ernestine the telephone operator? Or did I just illustrate how freaking old I am again?

In all seriousness I did just get a whole new computer, which started out, as these things often do, with my asking my fried Dennis Zaki if he could help me speed my old one up a little.

Long story short, that upgrade turned into Dennis and I building a whole new, blazingly fast, computer.

Part way through I expressed some concern that Dennis may have bitten off more than he could chew because we had run into a snag.

"Don't you have any faith in me?" He asked.

"What part of 'I'm and Atheist' don't you get?" I replied.

However Dennis did indeed succeed in putting together a very impressive computer that runs circles around my old one, which was about five years old, and already out of date when I took it out of the box.

So this is actually my way of saying "Thank you Dennis. And yes, NOW I have faith in you."

See how that works?