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	<title>mshepherd.com &#187; General</title>
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	<link>http://mshepherd.com/blog</link>
	<description>Personal Blog of Michael Shepherd</description>
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		<title>Cowboys &amp; Indians</title>
		<link>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/cowboys-indians/</link>
		<comments>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/cowboys-indians/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Apr 2006 03:08:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Night Owl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/cowboys-indians/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I am thinking if Hollywood had their way, this would be the present day version of children at play!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am thinking if Hollywood had their way, this would be the present day version of children at play!</p>
<p><img src="http://www.mshepherd.com/images/brokeback.jpg" alt="Brokeback Mountain" /></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/cowboys-indians/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Got Milk?</title>
		<link>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/got-milk/</link>
		<comments>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/got-milk/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Apr 2006 03:01:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Night Owl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/got-milk/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Stephanie commented on an earlier blog I made about how she was contemplating buying a cow to support the milk drinking habit of her 16 year old. Will this one do?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.mshepherd.com/images/gotmilk.jpg" alt="Got Milk?" align="right" />Stephanie commented on an earlier blog I made about how she was contemplating buying a cow to support the milk drinking habit of her 16 year old.  Will this one do?</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/got-milk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Chee&#8217;s!</title>
		<link>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/chees/</link>
		<comments>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/chees/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Apr 2006 02:55:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Night Owl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/chees/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I present &#8220;Ninja CheeWee&#8221; &#038; &#8220;Cup-Holder CheeWee&#8221;!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I present &#8220;Ninja CheeWee&#8221; &#038; &#8220;Cup-Holder CheeWee&#8221;!<br />
<img src="http://www.mshepherd.com/images/ninjachee.jpg" alt="Ninja CheeWee" /><img src="http://www.mshepherd.com/images/cupholderchee.jpg" alt="Cup Holder CheeWee" /></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/19/chees/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Email Stripper</title>
		<link>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/11/email-stripper/</link>
		<comments>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/11/email-stripper/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Apr 2006 01:59:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Night Owl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/11/email-stripper/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Stephanie is providing me with alot of material as of late. She turned me on to this nifty little utility called Email Stripper and now I&#8217;m here to share the bounty! This program is a small little executable that once &#8230; <a href="http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/11/email-stripper/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.mshepherd.com/images/emailstripper.jpg" alt="Email Stripper" align="right"/>Stephanie is providing me with alot of material as of late.  She turned me on to this nifty little utility called Email Stripper and now I&#8217;m here to share the bounty!  This program is a small little executable that once installed, places an icon on your desktop to launch it.  Once I ascertained that it contained no spy-ware, no ad-ware, no mal-ware, I placed it upon my Alienware (Hey, I made a rhyme!).</p>
<p>So what does it do?  It&#8217;s brilliantly simple.  Have you ever gotten one of those emails that&#8217;s been forwarded too many times and it looks something like this?</p>
<p>>>>>>Jack &#038; Jill went up the hill,<br />
>>>>>To have a little fun.<br />
>>>>>Stupid Jill forgot her pill,<br />
>>>>>And now they have a son!</p>
<p>Now simply open up the email stripper, copy this into it and click the button.  It instantaneously strips the nonsense out of it and leaves you with a crisp and clean version.</p>
<p>Jack &#038; Jill went up the hill,<br />
To have a little fun.<br />
Stupid Jill forgot her pill,<br />
And now they have a son!</p>
<p>It&#8217;s brilliant I tell you!  Now all one has to do is copy the edited version into a new mail and send it to their buddies without all the silly arrows!  A must have for nerdy types such as myself!  Thanks Stephanie!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.papercut.biz/emailstripper.htm"target=_blank>Get it Here!</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/11/email-stripper/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Privacy</title>
		<link>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/10/privacy/</link>
		<comments>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/10/privacy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Apr 2006 00:28:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Night Owl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/10/privacy/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It seems like every retail establishment operating today has a &#8220;Bonus&#8221; Card. I know people who have entire wallets or key chains dedicated to them. Of course stores call them &#8220;Bonus&#8221; Cards in order to fool you into thinking that &#8230; <a href="http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/10/privacy/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.mshepherd.com/images/bonuscard.jpg" alt="Bonus Card" align="right"/>It seems like every retail establishment operating today has a &#8220;Bonus&#8221; Card.  I know people who have entire wallets or key chains dedicated to them.  Of course stores call them &#8220;Bonus&#8221; Cards in order to fool you into thinking that you are in some way special.  I suppose I shouldn&#8217;t knock them totally, I mean you get the &#8220;Sale&#8221; prices &#038; an occasional coupon here and there.  What a deal huh?</p>
<p>The trade-off for taking advantage of their &#8220;Bonus&#8221; Card is pretty much a measure of your own privacy.  You fill out an &#8220;application&#8221;, they assign you a unique barcode, and you shop to your little hearts content.  Now lets examine what you generally have given the Retailer&#8230;</p>
<p>* Your Name (Application)<br />
* Your Address (Application)<br />
* Your Phone Number (Application)<br />
* Married/Single (Application)<br />
* Number of Children (Application)<br />
* Your age range (Application)<br />
* How often you shop (Scan Data)<br />
* What you buy (Scan Data)<br />
* Coupons you use (Scan Data)<br />
* Money you spend (Scan Data)<br />
* Cash/Check/Charge (Scan Data)</p>
<p>Most of us generally consider this to be a small sacrifice on our part in order for us to take advantage of the &#8220;Bonus&#8221; buys, and the Retailers are very good about protecting our privacy.  It&#8217;s not like they are out there selling our private information to &#8220;Spammers&#8221;.  What they are doing however, is marketing an entire targeted customer base. </p>
<p>Think about it&#8230; if you happen to be Proctor and Gamble, and you happen to make Pampers baby diapers.  Would you rather send some coupons in the mail to a million houses who may or may not have toddlers or would you rather have a million coupons spit out at the cash register to known mommies?  You&#8217;d probably pay a retailer a good deal of money to put a $1 off coupon in the hands of folks who are most likely to buy your product!  It&#8217;s a dream come true for the Retailer, they get to &#8220;Sell&#8221; their customers in a way that doesn&#8217;t violate the privacy agreement.</p>
<p>Now you might not think this sounds like a bad deal at all but opponents of such things as a National I.D. Card have put together this little Flash Spoof as the future road we could travel in regards to privacy.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mshepherd.com/flashmovie.htm"TARGET=_blank>Check it out!</a>  <&#8212;- Click Here</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/10/privacy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Double Meaning</title>
		<link>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/08/double-meaning/</link>
		<comments>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/08/double-meaning/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 08 Apr 2006 13:34:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Night Owl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/08/double-meaning/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s another pix I happened across while browsing my collection. It&#8217;s one of those images that can be looked at in two different ways. Anyone see it for 10 NightOwl points? I&#8217;m thinking this one is too easy!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.mshepherd.com/images/liar.jpg" alt="Riddle Pix" align="right"/>Here&#8217;s another pix I happened across while browsing my collection.  It&#8217;s one of those images that can be looked at in two different ways.  Anyone see it for 10 NightOwl points?</p>
<p>I&#8217;m thinking this one is too easy!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/04/08/double-meaning/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Corporate Structure</title>
		<link>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/26/corporate-structure/</link>
		<comments>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/26/corporate-structure/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jan 2006 04:05:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Night Owl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/26/corporate-structure/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m thinking this is an accurate representation of my job!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m thinking this is an accurate representation of my job!</p>
<p><img src="http://www.mshepherd.com/images/modernmanagement.jpg" alt="Modern Management" /></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/26/corporate-structure/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Florida Again</title>
		<link>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/25/florida-again/</link>
		<comments>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/25/florida-again/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2006 14:19:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Night Owl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/25/florida-again/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No offense to Stephanie, but there are some&#8230; seriously messed up people in Florida!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>No offense to Stephanie, but there are some&#8230;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tampabays10.com/weird/weird_article.aspx?storyid=24334" target=_blank>seriously messed up people in Florida!</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/25/florida-again/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8220;I&#8217;ll drink Starbucks if I want to&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/25/ill-drink-starbucks-if-i-want-to/</link>
		<comments>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/25/ill-drink-starbucks-if-i-want-to/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2006 12:52:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Night Owl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/25/ill-drink-starbucks-if-i-want-to/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A while back, I stumbled across a blog done by a fella named Alex Blagg. He made a rant regarding an experience he had at a Starbucks in San Francisco which had me laughing up a storm. The guy has &#8230; <a href="http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/25/ill-drink-starbucks-if-i-want-to/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A while back, I stumbled across a blog done by a fella named Alex Blagg.  He made a rant regarding an experience he had at a Starbucks in San Francisco which had me laughing up a storm.  The guy has a gift for words, and some of them are quite &#8220;Strong&#8221;, so don&#8217;t say I didn&#8217;t warn you about the language.</p>
<p><a href="http://blaggblogg.blogspot.com/2005/08/ill-drink-starbucks-if-i-want-you.html" target=_blank>I&#8217;ll drink Starbucks if I want to!</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/25/ill-drink-starbucks-if-i-want-to/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Steelers are going to the &#8220;Show&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/22/steelers-are-going-to-the-show/</link>
		<comments>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/22/steelers-are-going-to-the-show/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 Jan 2006 23:39:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Night Owl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/22/steelers-are-going-to-the-show/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just got done watching Pittsburg take the Denver Broncos to &#8220;School&#8221;. Whoever is doing the Steeler&#8217;s play-calling deserves a bonus because he did an awesome job keeping Denver off balance. I&#8217;m off to the next game to see the &#8230; <a href="http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/22/steelers-are-going-to-the-show/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.mshepherd.com/images/nfl.gif" alt="NFL"align="left"/>I just got done watching Pittsburg take the Denver Broncos to &#8220;School&#8221;.  Whoever is doing the Steeler&#8217;s play-calling deserves a bonus because he did an awesome job keeping Denver off balance.  I&#8217;m off to the next game to see the other team going to the Superbowl!</p>
<p>Go &#8220;Blitzburg&#8221;!!!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://mshepherd.com/blog/2006/01/22/steelers-are-going-to-the-show/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
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