TexDem is busy with family matters today, so he asked me to sub for him. Just hope I don't screw this up too much. I hope that everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving.
Sorry for the delay. My pics would not imbed. After publishing without pics, I have now successfully gotten them going. Thanks for your forebearance.
Having "honored" the turkey yesterday. I thought we might take today to honor (in a much nicer way) another noble bird -- the owl.
Owls are birds of prey of the order Strigiformes. While there are over 200 different species of owls, they fall into two families:
Strigidae or typical owls, and Tytonidae, or barn owls.
Some of the most notable of owl types include:
the Screech Owl, of which there are 20 different species;
the Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus;
the very rare Northern Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis caurina;
and, of course, the majestic Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus.
Owls are associated with wisdom. The Greek goddess of wisdom, Athena (and her Roman equivalent, Minerva) was often depicted with an owl. Temple University in Philadelphia uses the Owl as its atheletic symbol. And, of course, owls constitute the Wizard postal system in the fabulously successful Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling.
The unique features of owls make then a source of depiction in art throughout cultures. I first became interested in owl figures through my mother, who received this figurine, made in Mexico, from a family friend in 1966.
My mother was quite taken with this. Of course, that may have had something to do with how eerily this owl looked like our friend. But, be that as it may, many others followed, as her friends and family would bring back owl depictions of various kinds from their travels. When she passed away in 1997, we did an inventory and found 452 owl figurines. They ranged from lifelike to extremely abstract. Yet, they were all instantly identifiable as the noble owl. My siblings and I split up this collection. Here is a picture of some of those in my possession.
Mojo Friday Guidelines
1. If you comment you have to recommend all comments. (in order to recieve mojo you have to give mojo. It's only good mojo manners.)
2. Everything you say may be taken as a joke (so if you ask a question, expect a silly answer)
3. You must recommend the diary (and pimp it unapologetically)
4. You don't have to comment to recommend.
5. You can't steal my idea (right, like that ain't goin' to happen)
6. Please, no pictures or YouTubes until after 300 comments
7. Mojo mojo mojo mojo, mojo mojo mojo
Mojo Friday Goals
A. at least 300 different commenters and 1000 comments by 1:30 PM EST and 1500 by 5:00 PM EST Friday Night that it's posted.
B. 100 recommends for each comment, at least.
C. Stay on Recommend List at least five hours (this requires some strategic planning by you guys, refer to guideline #3)
D. At least 200 diary recommends. 300 would be better, spread the word.
E. And always, fun fun fun.
F. Have at least 75% average participation rate as seen here in the Mojo Friday Postgame Show by Hedwig.
G. (New) Have at least 30 kossacks over 90% participation (see here for some tips).
H. Overload the servers with recommends, not to mention dominate Top Comments Mojo list. (we do tend to mess with the site with all of our recommends at one time)(also, to dominate the Top Comments Top Mojo we need at least 50 comments with over 100 recommends, see guideline B)
I. That's enough for now. (Have a suggestion? Post it.)
MKinTN posted a diary to help everyone achieve greater success called How to Succeed at Mojo Friday Without Really Trying.
Finally, a note about snecking. This is an arcane ritual amongst some of the Mojo Friday regulars. For a fuller explanation, see Jez's excellent diary, The Official Mojo Friday Snecktionary.