I’ve been taking Darren Rowse’s 31 days to a better blogger “course” which I started a week ago today. I’ve already seen improvements in my statistics as well as been introduced to some new bloggers (hello Ralph and Karen and thank you for your contributions to the discussions at hand!)

People in the News

• Carrie Prejean shocked us this week when photos of her posing topless (accounts said nude, but all I ever saw were a couple of her with no top on and even then she was turned away from the camera). Since she’s already titillated us with her views on same sex marriage and breast enhancement surgery, this revelation was too good to pass up. Wonder what she’ll top this with? Any speculations?
• Inspiration comes in many forms and this week we were inspired by the courage and grace exhibited by the first US face transplant recipient, Connie Culp. Her fortitude and the way she keeps focusing on the positive has humbled me and made me more thankful for the life I have. Did her story touch you?
• We weren’t allowed to become maudlin, though because Manny Ramierez certainly brought us back down  to earth when he was caught taking banned drugs and ordered to sit out the next 50 games. Manny what were you thinking man? And what’s with the lame excuse?? C’mon now. We might have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night!
• And the jury is still out on John Edwards. Did he father Frances Hunter, the one-year-old daughter of Edwards’ former mistress Rielle Hunter. And just as importantly, did he misappropriate campaign funds when he paid Rielle’s firm $100,000 for videos?

On the Blogging Front

• I gave you some links to what I consider to be great examples of free wordpress themes for various types of blogs. You have choices for almost every blog approach. Which one was your favorite?
• We talked a little bit about what odd search terms bring traffic to this blog.  A couple of commenters shared their odd terms. What are some of yours?

Human Behavior Never Ceases to Disgust

• People are going to be people. Far be it from me to dictate what is or isn’t interesting, but some things just go beyond good taste. And other things just plain hurt people and that’s what I’m totally against. When photos of the nearly decapitated body of a young woman were circulated through the internet and even 3 years later cause untold grief and heartache to her family, enough is enough. But what do you think? Is it freedom of information to have these out there  or is it just ghoulish interest?
• And speaking of ghoulish — what about the Body Works display that is currently touring Europe? It has cadavers that have been stripped of their skin and preserved in plastic, then posed in a diorama of different settings depicting human behaviors — including having sex! Is that interesting? Or just a blatant attempt to gain controversial news coverage (and free publicity)?

Are you taking the 31 day challenge? If so, what do you think of it so far? Is it helping you or is it just a lot of hard work that’s not producing results?  If you’re not taking it, check it out. It’s not too late to start

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Tags: Body Works exhibit, Carrie Prejean, Connie Culp, Darren Rowse, great examples of wordpress themes, John Edwards and Rielle Hunter, Manny Ramirez, odd search terms that bring traffic, photos of a nearly decapitated woman

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