The Lord Loves You, Facebook Administrators, and USC Squirrels is Tryin'!!!!

So we were attempting to log into Facebook to say hi and check in with our facebooker friends, when we got this as are welcome (read below) Seems that they think our name is FAKE. Long story short, we're going to take Jesus' advice and "shake off the (facebook) dust from your (our) feet"

The Lord loves you, Facebook Administrators, and USC Squirrels is tryin'!!!!

Facebook Login
"Your account has been disabled by an administrator. If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ page here."

So we went there and found:

Why was my account disabled?
Your account was disabled because you violated Facebook’s Terms of Use, to which you agreed when you first registered for an account on the site. Accounts can either be disabled for repeat offenses or for one, particularly egregious violation.

Facebook does not allow users to register with fake names, to impersonate any person or entity, or to falsely state or otherwise misrepresent themselves or their affiliations.

We do not allow users to send unsolicited or harassing messages to people they don’t know, and we remove posts that advertise a product, service, website, or opportunity.

Our Code of Conduct outlines the types of content we do not allow on the site. This includes any obscene, pornographic, or sexually explicit photos, as well as any photos that depict graphic violence. We also remove content, photo or written, that threatens, intimidates, harasses, or brings unwanted attention or embarrassment to an individual or group of people.

Tom & the Myspace Gals

Are we crazy or just out of touch with the "myspacer scene?"
There are a lot of gals on myspace that want to be our friend.
At first we thought it was because we as squirrels have a reputation for being approachable, cuddly and having a keen sense of hearing (which makes us good listeners).
But there are some gals out there that are really, really, really forward, in a "party hearty" kind of way, and they keep asking to be our friends and so far we have said nothing and written nothing & they are making us nervous.

BTW, we have written to Tom about this.

Tom is everybody's friend, and we were hoping Tom could talk to some of these gals, but Tom isn't returning our emails. Do you think Tom thinks we are prudes? Do you think that Tom is siding with Shizue, Krystal, Bubbles & the rest of the gals that "wanna partay with u"? ("u" being us.)

Nanci's (with an "i" thanks!) Bag Contents, 9/19/07

Nanci's (with an "i" thanks!) Bag Contents, 9/19/07
Originally uploaded by USC Squirrels (Unofficial- Unauthorized-Unbad)

Can you say workaround? This technology thing some times throws us for a loop, but we are a stubborn bunch and are now using a Flickr tool to link* this photo Nanci did.

This is a follow link to the one from last month....and yes, we have been working on this off and on for the last 5 weeks or so...when not jamming the big points on DK (Donkey Kong).

Flickr is phantastic photo phun! (we're also on the silly side, case you haven't noticed)

*hyper link, but we wish they would have called them hot links, because "hot link" sounds cool and delicious, but that's neither here nor there now, is it? Wait a minute, they don't call it hyperlink, they call it hypertext...we're so confused- see what we mean?!

Living with the Fever (Donkey Kong Fever)

OK, so sometimes you have to take something potentially destructive and turn it in to something constructive. Our scary stuff inside can be gifts in disguise.

To wit: We shared that we were all suffering from Donkey Kong fever, which sounds bad because it could be bad, but we have established a blog that is dedicated to sharing with our readers all the secrets to big points and high scores, cracking the codes and getting that crazy ape to give up the young lady prisoner!!

More details and the full story are on our new blog, How To Win at Donkey Kong
http://www.how-to-win-at-donkey-kong.blogspot.com/

We're Expanding Our Online Presence, and Building community on the World Wide Web

Nanci (with an "i" thanx) has just added a photo, and has added this photo with comments to a group on FLICKR.
This is big news, please join us in congratulating Nanci (with an "i" thanx).
We are so proud of you!!!





http://www.flickr.com/photos/10501880@N07/1413346490/

Not this Again! Yes This Again!

Not this again, yes this again. (See post on 7/27 on the allegedly-inebriated-squirrel-photographed-at-posted-on-Flickr incident and the ensuing fallout)

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/oh%2C-food%21-i.ll-just-_-wahhhhhh%21%21/squirrel-catapult-is-awful-yet-we-cant-look-away-270290.php


OK, so we have another situation that we are including here as part of our policy of openness…not crazy about this whole situation, but as you know, we have a couple of short tempers in our group, and this kind of “humor” sets us squirrels off.

There’s a video out there that shows a squirrel flung from a homemade catapult. I guess some people think this is hilarious. We don’t.

And so one of us wrote this comment.

The first line refers to the site administrator’s note that comments are up for “audition” and for would be commentors to “polish our words.”

Dear Gizmodo,

Your asking us to "Polish our words" to "audition" to be a commentor? PUL EEZE!

The only thing we plan on polishing is that kid's ass!

Message to the boy-in-need-of-a-new-cruelty-free-hobby, you are notice, BITCH.

Come to USC (that's in Los Angeles) and try that...oh never been here? That's a surprise!

Watch your toes spineless ones!

USC Squirrels


Pretty intense, right, so then others of us followed up with:

Dear Gizmodo,

We hope this comment catches you in time, before you read the first post. USC Squirrels regrets the recent rash response to the above post “S.C. I.A.,Y.W.C.N.L.A.”

We apologize for any pain and / or embarrassment you may have suffered from this comment.

We don’t like that the post contained a threat, which we consider offensive in and of itself, and we are troubled by the foul language, which we think is a sign of small vocabulary, laziness and a lack of imagination.

While some of us in our community are offended by this video (because it’s pretty lame) we understand your right to display it. And we don’t feel that intimidation of violence solves anything.

Thanks,

USC Squirrels

And, then, we had to add something about how poor the video itself was:


Oh-one more thing:

On a film critique-y note, we’re no experts (though some of us live near the Cinema school here on campus), a few of us feel (content aside) this thing goes on just waaaay toooo lonngg.

As the late great James Brown says, “Hit and Quit It.”

Can you tell the person who made it that as hard as it is to cut things down, they are ALWAYS BETTER FOR IT. (e.g. Most director’s cuts and DVD releases with extended scenes suffer greatly from the “new” scenes.)

Thanks,

USC Squirrels

We've been sick with a fever...DONKEY KONG FEVER

Symptoms include an irrestible urge to get high scores and rescue the princess from that rascal of an ape.

May also include dreams of barrel jumping backwards for 300 points, and fantasies of watching the big ole dumb ape fall on his head and go ouch!!!!

Sufferers of donkey kong fever may also experience vast periods of non blogging at their website for over eight weeks because they are in love with playing and winning at Donkey Kong...HEY!

HEY, that sounds like US!!

Sooooooooo, sorry about that. We know that we've been negligent in our blogging duties and we hate to think that we let all of our many loyal readers down... will you forgive us?

If you can't beat 'em, Join 'em (Please help, won't you?)

The almost a scientist and inventor but needs the money guy really inspired us. (See previous entry to get the dealio.)

We took his message for getting money from a stranger on Craigslist to heart.

Without further ado, we invite you to give what you can, and do what your heart tells you...

(All replies will be confidential)

This is the link to our ad:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/wan/385801488.html

And this is what the ad says:

$$$, Respect and Power and unconditional love. And fame (perhaps).
Reply to: sale-385801488@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-07-30, 10:11PM PDT


We're a group of squirrels looking for money, respect, power and unconditional love. And fame (perhaps).

We are ready for these things, please give them to us. We are kind, humble and deserve all of these things. Thanks and God Bless.

Please address all replies to the address below. Please, no flakes.

Kind Regards,

USC Squirrels


* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests


PostingID: 385801488

This person needs your help, especially if you are very rich, very ill, live in SoCal and have no heirs

Just got underway in our BUZZ campaign and was sidetracked by this listing in the "items wanted" section of LA Craigslist.

This guy is on to something, but needs money (that's all he needs- money) It's a little intense, but that doesn't scare us...does it scare you?

After reading this, we have one question. If he got a B in one semester of chemistry, and he got a C in another semester, then does he have a B Minus, or C Plus average. We know we know, you think we could figure this one out since we live on campus (most of us, anyway).

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/wan/385774728.html

WANT TO INHERIT YOUR FORTUNE IF YOU DON'T HAVE A WORTHY HEIR

Reply to: sale-385774728@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-07-30, 9:17PM PDT


If you have lots of money and don't know anybody who deserve it. I'll take it. I am honest, sincerely and nice. I'll use it to buy me my first home somewhere in Southern California. I'll keep the rest in the bank and start studying science at a local community college and transfer to a 4 year university later on. My goal is to become a pharmacist/medical research scientist and make the first true REVERSE AGING PILL. This pill will literally make a 100 year old man/woman into a 20 year young man/woman in about 80 years(reverse aging). Another thing I want to create is a TELEPORTATION DEVICE where you go in one POD sick and old and come out the other POD healthy and young. the TELEPORTATION DEVICE will filter out old the bad stuff. I am healthy, eager and determined male and I will make either or both. But I need some money to buy myself a nice home in a quiet neighborhood so that I can study and don't have to worry about working part time. I want to devote myself to study science. I do have relatively good science background where I recieved A on three semesters of calculus. I also took two chemistry where I received B and a C. Currently I cannot study because I live in a shabby apartment in a soso neighborhood where neighbor's loud music and dog barking interferes with my ability to study.

Thank you.


Location: entire southern california
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 385774728

If you see a bee, what do you hear? (Hint hint)

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ

Don't mind us, we're busy as bees, in the midst of creating our first ever "buzz" campaign.

Do you know what "creating a buzz" is? Good. You're in the know like us.

Well we're hard at work making honey, er, [jk! :) ] raising peer group awareness of our program.

Updates soon....now if you don't mind, could you Buzz off! Just kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apologies to Flickr user A*A*R*O*N*, and to You, Dear Reader

Kinda wish we didn't have to do this, it's late, our eyes are swollen, we have an early breakfast appt. tomorrow, we would rather be curled up in a ball, but here goes-

One of more quick tempered of us came across an image on Flickr attributed to A*A*R*O*N*:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/admurder/9726775/

We think this is way lame, stuff happens and I'm sure the guy who took this shot wouldn't want his picture being taken and commmented on, but whatever...ANYwho. (Not to mention the legal implications of not getting consent of the individual, but we digress.)

So those that shall remain nameless wrote the following, and although we can feel their frustration, we don't condone goonish tactics. So, you can read the first comment, and then the follow up, and we apologize to A*A*R*O*N* and all the Flickr users out there, also as a warning, there's some language that's not suitable for our younger readers.

FIRST POST:
USC Squirrels (Unofficial- Unauthorized-Unbad) says:

Yo A*A*R*O*N, you're on notice, bitch. We're coming for you.

and then, once we were alerted,

SECOND POST:
USC Squirrels (Unofficial- Unauthorized-Unbad) says:

Dear Flickr user with the handle of "A*A*R*O*N,"

USC Squirrels regrets the recent rash response to your photo entitled,"Tasteless? Hilarious? You decide."

We apologize for any pain and/ or embarassment you may have been victim of based on this comment.

Also, we don't like that the post contained foul language, which we think is a sign of small vocabulary and lack of imagination.

While some of us in the community are offended by this photo, we understand your right to display it. And, we don't feel that intimidation of violence solves anything.

Kind Regards,

USC Squirrels


We hope we can move on and put this ugly incident behind us. Good night.

DECISION 2007

YOUR VOTE COUNTS.

PLEASE GO DIRECTLY TO THE POLL LOCATED ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS SCREEN.

YOU MAY HAVE TO SCROLL DOWN.

THIS POLL OPEN TO ALL AMERICANS, NON AMERICANS AND UNAMERICANS.

(PLEASE DO NOT MISCONSTRUE THIS MESSAGE IN ALL CAPS. WE ARE NOT MAD, WE ARE EXCITED AND WANT TO GET YOUR ATTENTION. WE APOLOGIZE IF YOU THOUGHT WE WERE YELLING AND MAD AT YOU THIS ENTIRE TIME YOU WERE READING THIS.)

VOTE!!!

Correction: Zima Exists

www.zima.com

Boy does it ever.

It's got a new look, a new taste and a new attitude.

This is not your father's (or aunt's or second wife's) alchopop malternative.

We don't claim to be journalists, but we at USC Squirrels will admit when were wrong. We thought that Zima was R.I.P., but we gather from the neat website that it is R.I.P.E. for a comeback!

Part I of II- A purified heart + Percy Shelley's + Zima = ???

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a long entry and had to be split in two parts, but our contributor for this entry was very very persistent about getting to blog about something they felt very very strongly about, soooooo without further ado...)

This tip goes out to the fella we overheard lamenting to his friend at Chipolte about lady troubles.

It's from one of our self-professed-reformed female squirrels' male squirrel (you call them a "ladies' man," right?). With notes from our editorial staff.


1) Purify your heart. Females know when you're "frontin'"

(EDITOR'S NOTE: To clarify the above, make sure you are being honest with your feelings. Females can tell when you aren't being honest with them, or your self, and they don't like it.)

2)Memorize the following poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley.



Love's Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the Ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine? —

See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another,
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother,
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?

(EDITOR'S NOTE: We don't get everything in this poem, but we definitely get the jist. Part II is below)

Part II of II- Purified Heart + Percy Shelley + Zima = ???

3) Find some Zima, Bartles & James and/ or Sun Country Wine Coolers. Capful for you, and capful for that special one. Garbage cans, yards and the bike racks on 28th street are great sources for half drank bottles of these.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Lots to discuss here. First, USC Squirrels would like to take this opportunity to once again share our strict no minor drinking alcohol policy.

Also, while we understand that alcohol in small amounts can work wonderfully as a social lubricant, please drink responsibly.

On another note, I think our resident former female squirrels' male squirrel is dating themselves. (Zima? Sure it was tasty and didn't slow you down, but now it's more of a Budweiser with Ginseng- sake bomb kinda world, right?)

And, just to be clear, don't be a JERK. When in doubt, remember that your parents (and maybe GOD) are watching you.)

4) In a public place, find a nice spot to have some quiet alone time. Offer a sip, recite the poem, look them in the eye, and tell them that you like them- A LOT!

(EDITOR'S NOTE: We think the idea here is to make sure they feel safe and unthreatened. We squirrels are definitely keyed up, and when in doubt, we will run like if scared. This may go for humans, as well. As for the rest, it speaks for itself.)

Tell us your thoughts!

Allow us to vent, and hand me the Liquid Paper, will you?

Had a few minutes before a meeting last Friday [why does anyone schedule a meeting on a Friday after 3pm? :) ], and started rereading the core documents of USC, beginning with the Role and Mission of USC.


"The central mission of the University of Southern California is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit."

Whooooooaaaaaa...HELLLOOO??!?!?!

"...development of Human Beings and society as a whole"

We kept reading, but it doesn't get any better. There is NO MENTION of any other creature other than humans.

What a big bummerinski!

What about the rest of the animal kingdom? Is it wrong to expect more than this human-centric view from a self professed world class university of the 21st century?

The good news is there's an easy if somewhat time consuming solution:

Find every written copy of this and liquid paper out "human beings" and write in "ALL beings."

And of course we'll draft a letter to the President and Provost ASAP. If we know USC, this should all be cleared up by the middle of next week, tops. Of course we'll keep you posted.

BTW, Do you think this mistake is an "American Thing" or a "Human Thing"?

Maybe we'll set up a poll in the future to find out. Polling is a very imporant tool that could work for this. Whether we should have a poll about this would actually make a very interesting poll, wouldn't it?

It's got a RED belly, not a yellow one. Fierce!!

Only four dollars plus shipping and handling. We don't get any profits, we just think it's bada_ _ (rhymes "mad-gas" LOL)

Looks like they may have used Lucky from Founder's Park as a model- before he had his morning coffee...JK

You know We LUV YA LUCK!!

More info from the site:

"Our realistic-looking red-bellied tree squirrel is made of hollow plastic and measures 5 1/8 inches from nose to tail and 3 inches high to the tips of the ears. The body is moulded with a fur-like pattern and details that almost make it seem real. Its name is moulded into the underside of the tail. This sturdy, light-weight plastic squirrel is great for school projects, toys, novelties, animal collections, party favors and more. Our plastic red-bellied tree squirrel is for decoration or play only. You can make a wonderful forest shoebox diorama using this and other plastic creatures from our gift shop. Best of all, there is no mess, no feeding, and no tank or cage cleaning :)"

We're going to ignore the fact they imply this is better than the real thing!!


http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/gifts/friends/rodents/squirrel-red-bellied-tree-plastic-animal-f1065.htm

We announce that we will have a big announcement

We're very excited to announce that we will soon be making an exciting announcment about USC Squirrels

We've been swept up in the Girl/Lady Power exhibited by the news that the artists known as the Spice Girls (sic)will be touring.*

So, we've been inspired (we're not copying)to announce that we have an announcement- STAY TUNED


*All of us will be able to get to say hi again as well as well as sending them off in proper style.

(BTW When did Posh turn into an insect? Will she play her vestigial arms / wings? That would be cool!!!!)

The oldies among us remember some amazing times overhearing this music as spilled from freshman dorms in the late 90s.

Ziga ziga zah!

As promised, demo photos (aka "Part II of Matchbooks: Raising the fun while raising the funds !!!")

Don't be shy- express yourself! With pricing starting at $.97 plus shipping.



How much of your individual being can we fit in on a matchbook cover?



















Monogrammed match heads- why not? We wonder, does the "S" stand for Squirrel, or Supercool?! ;)
[editor's note: click on image to see extra detail of filligree-type pen and ink work)

Matchbooks-- Raising the fun while raising the funds !!! --------If you can dream it, we can make it!!

A few of us were speaking early this morning, brainstorming, and we came up with a fun(d)raising idea that is sure to please.

First though, wouldn't you agree that a wonderful way to show your personality is by owning and using items that reflect your personal style?

Isn't this the way that a lot of advertisers sell things to you?

If we want your money for us, wouldn't it be a good idea to offer a way for you to express your individuality by purchasing something from us or us providing some service that we could sell to you?

Yes, yes and yes!

Hold that thought, but it keep it mind as we bring up something that is/are neat but is/are often overlooked.

Matches.

Matches are amazing- they start fires, light cigarettes, etc. They're a little "retro," a little "bad boy/ bad girl/ bad squirrel," and they are dangerous in many ways.

Yet many take these powerful packages for granted, often even not having them handy or being unable to find them when they need them.

So we're taking matches to the next level (the next good level, so it's a level above the one that they are existing on now) and offering matches that we'll be delightfully different and that will refuse to blend in.

We invite you to be the first to make a statement with the match books you carry and (on occasion) use.

Each matchbook will cost:

$.97 plus handling and shipping.

Bedazzlled or Rhinestoned books will be a little more...and we are always interested in a challenge...if you can dream it, we can make it.


Best to contact us via the comments section of the blog.


Examples will be posted shortly.



Proceeds will be going to new duds (sweatshirts and wind pants -we have to everything made custom b/c of our smaller stature) , a summer banquet and a possible surprise (whoops!) trip to Magic Mountain.

Manifesto / Intro (We're new at this, so bear with us...)

Hi from Sunny Southern California!

We're happy and excited to add our voice and perspective to the Trojan Family, but make no mistake we are setting up this blog to speak to the world!

Our hope and aim is to bring our unique experience to bear in a (mostly) thoughtful, though not excessively reverent, way.

Yes, we are all squirrels, but /and we have a request:

After reading our posts, resist the possible temptation to lump us together or write us off and say,
"That's what all squirrels say," or mutter to yourself "typical squirrel rant"...

THINK, and remember how you feel when you are judged as just-another-demographic-unit or subset of society.

In a word, check yourself before you have to correct yourself. (We love that phrase but didn't make it up- it's part of the urban vernacular.*)

We are all the same but unique, just like you :).

One more thing: we wholeheartedly believe that 'going within' will lead to universal themes and truth.

So our aim is to have the courage to be squirrelnal (think personal- but for squirrels) and to risk that vulnerability.

NOT to add to the cacophony to the Over Self Revealing Epidemic Dance Remix that's been blasting for the last decade**, but to speak to and for what exists in all of us.

Phew! Heady, heavy stuff right here off that bat, but we promise it won't be like this all the time, or even most of the time.

We're just trying let you know where we're coming from, and what our theme is.

To paraphrase what we heard Reese Witherspoon quote June Carter Cash post Oscar win a few years ago...

We're Just Trying to Matter




*Lots of neat words and sayings can be found at www.urbandictionary.com. We turn to this it when the students use an expression that leaves us clueless. A word of warning though, some of the expressions are Not Suitable for Young Ears. And, as always, if you're a minor (and you know if you are or not)

**Is it Getting Louder? We think so!!