Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Yeah, I’m back
...and exhausted.
Made a quick trip southward to assist Aged P and WS in moving house (which had been put off for a week by delays re: closing).
Unfortunately, first project on arrival was to uninstall all the routers and TV boxes for return to the phone company. (New place comes with CATV, internet will be DSL[1], needing a different set of boxes.) Result: No internet for the last 5 days (not that I had any time for it, anyway).
More later.
-----
...and exhausted.
Made a quick trip southward to assist Aged P and WS in moving house (which had been put off for a week by delays re: closing).
Unfortunately, first project on arrival was to uninstall all the routers and TV boxes for return to the phone company. (New place comes with CATV, internet will be DSL[1], needing a different set of boxes.) Result: No internet for the last 5 days (not that I had any time for it, anyway).
More later.
-----
[1] so they can keep their existing e-mail addresses
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Friday, 01 August 2008
Sites Linked - July 2008
38 posts in July, still trending downward after June’s 43 and May’s 45, but also still ahead of March and April (both 35) and far better than the lowest month YTD: September 2007 (28 posts).
The July linklist is below the jump...
more...
38 posts in July, still trending downward after June’s 43 and May’s 45, but also still ahead of March and April (both 35) and far better than the lowest month YTD: September 2007 (28 posts).
The July linklist is below the jump...
more...
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Monday, 28 July 2008
BlogMoot report
Another pleasant afternoon, this one on the porch at Hoghead’s BBQ (Broad Ripple). Afraid I pigged out in the food department: Fried Biscuits with apple butter, Build-your-Own Salad (A Meal In Itself), and Sliced Beef sandwich, washed down with Barley Island Sheet Metal Blonde. Yum. (Not to mention the sweet corn to take home, courtesy of Frank James, who showed up with what looked like a quarter-pickup-bed load.)
Lots of good talk: Insider stuff about the tech world and the gun biz, some previews of things to come (Frank, I meant it about that trilogy. Shermlock, DO do the stadium post.), great stories (The disadvantages of shooting raccoons in your kitchen. How a woman may suffer great disappointment if her father breaks with tradition, giving her with perfume– instead of the usual gun– for her 16th birthday.). And it turns out that Roberta is a steam rail buff. Yay!
Attendance a bit less than last time, but still a good crowd for a midsummer afternoon. (A couple of folks apparently didn’t relish the prospect of dealing with the race crowd, but with the late start meant no excess congestion in the Ripple, and, reportedly, not a lot on the incoming i-states, either. Well, now we know.)
Thanks again to Roberta X for putting things together (and for giving me the idea for this post title). See everyone in August!
Elsewhere (so far):
Another pleasant afternoon, this one on the porch at Hoghead’s BBQ (Broad Ripple). Afraid I pigged out in the food department: Fried Biscuits with apple butter, Build-your-Own Salad (A Meal In Itself), and Sliced Beef sandwich, washed down with Barley Island Sheet Metal Blonde. Yum. (Not to mention the sweet corn to take home, courtesy of Frank James, who showed up with what looked like a quarter-pickup-bed load.)
Lots of good talk: Insider stuff about the tech world and the gun biz, some previews of things to come (Frank, I meant it about that trilogy. Shermlock, DO do the stadium post.), great stories (The disadvantages of shooting raccoons in your kitchen. How a woman may suffer great disappointment if her father breaks with tradition, giving her with perfume– instead of the usual gun– for her 16th birthday.). And it turns out that Roberta is a steam rail buff. Yay!
Attendance a bit less than last time, but still a good crowd for a midsummer afternoon. (A couple of folks apparently didn’t relish the prospect of dealing with the race crowd, but with the late start meant no excess congestion in the Ripple, and, reportedly, not a lot on the incoming i-states, either. Well, now we know.)
Thanks again to Roberta X for putting things together (and for giving me the idea for this post title). See everyone in August!
Elsewhere (so far):
21/2 Baker Street: Back From the July Indy Blogmeet
View From The Porch: Indy Blog Meet Report... (tomorrow)
The Adventures of Roberta X: BlogMeet: Successful
View From The Porch: Indy Blog Meet Report... (tomorrow)
The Adventures of Roberta X: BlogMeet: Successful
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Thursday, 24 July 2008
Next Indy blog meet - July 27
As usual, thanks to Roberta X:
As usual, thanks to Roberta X:
Sunday, 27 July 2008. 3:00 pm. We'll meet at Broad Ripple Brew Pub and figure out where to go from there.Readers and lurkers welcome, too.
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Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Alert! Alert!
More bumper-sticker art coming up shortly.
Previously.
More bumper-sticker art coming up shortly.
Previously.
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Saturday, 12 July 2008
Pray for me...
I am now about to attempt an uninstallation of Norton Antivirus on my primary computer.
If not heard from within two days, please send out search parties.
UPDATE 080713 03:37: Process took about an hour, most of which was spent researching how to/backing up system settings and registry. Everything seems to have worked.
(The rest of the day was spent on yard work and housecleaning.)
I am now about to attempt an uninstallation of Norton Antivirus on my primary computer.
If not heard from within two days, please send out search parties.
UPDATE 080713 03:37: Process took about an hour, most of which was spent researching how to/backing up system settings and registry. Everything seems to have worked.
(The rest of the day was spent on yard work and housecleaning.)
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Tuesday, 01 July 2008
Sites Linked - June 2008
43 posts in June, not as good as May’s 45, but still better than March and April (both 35). Far better than the lowest month YTD: September 2007, with only 28 posts.
The June linklist is below the jump...
more...
43 posts in June, not as good as May’s 45, but still better than March and April (both 35). Far better than the lowest month YTD: September 2007, with only 28 posts.
The June linklist is below the jump...
more...
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Thursday, 26 June 2008
The adventure of the disappearing pajamas
Two days ago, I followed a link at Instapundit:
The link (in burgundy in the screenshot), points to:
http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2008/06/23/encounter-bids-the-new-york-times-farewell/
...a Pajamas Media opinion piece by Encounter Books publisher Roger Kimball. In it, Kimball announced that his company had decided to stop providing review copies of its new publications to The New York Times, and gave his reasons. First (if I recall correctly) because of the Times’s penchant for giving unfairly unfavorable[1] reviews to anything contaminated with the least taint of conservatism. Second, because the explosion of alternate channels of publicity (along with the Times’s decline) means that a Times review today is no longer as valuable for attracting readers as used to be. In the comments, one of Encounter’s authors chimed in, and in passing (but, I’m sure, fully intentionally), mentioned two of his own books. Both titles piqued my interest, but at that point I was interrupted, and had to close the page. However I did make a mental note to get back to it later, so I could add them to my want list.
That was two days ago.
This evening, my mental note percolated to the surface. So, back to Instapundit, scroll down to the link, click on it, and get... the Pajamas Media home page. Well, things like that can happen. Sometimes “permalinks,†well, aren’t.[2] Perhaps Glenn got the wrong one. Scan the page... Hmm... don’t see anything that looks like the article I read. Gee, it was only a couple of days ago- surely it can’t have scrolled off already! Let’s try the browser’s search: Find "Kimball".
K-Meleon finds one "Kimball" on the home page. This one:
One last try. Poke "Roger Kimball" into the PJM searchbox. The results: The video above, and several other items dating from April 19th or before. But “Encounter Bids the New York Times Farewell,†which was posted on June 23rd– and which I read– appears to have vanished.
Perhaps there were some second thoughts. Could be that, on reflection, the time for burning bridges with the Times hasn‘t come yet. That dying tiger can still do a lot of damage, especially if your business is as dominated by liberals and leftists as the book trade. Or perhaps some of Encounter’s other authors were heard from, authors surprised and dismayed by an announcement that came from out of the blue, without warning.
Maybe the article should have been more politic. Better if there’d been more nuance. Perhaps better if it hadn’t appeared at all.
Well, Kimball and Pajamas can do whatever they want. But it seems to me that making articles disappear ranks right up there with the frequently-condemned (e.g., over 600 results for the BBC) “stealth edits†practiced on the web by the legacy media. The malleability of the internet is a strength, but also a weakness: With dead trees, whether it’s an intemperate screed or a “Dewey Defeats Truman†howler, once it’s published it can’t be taken back.
If we who write on the web are to maintain our integrity, then, along with our prides and triumphs, our embarrassments and errors must remain visible. It may be uncomfortable, but it’s honest.
-----
Pajamas Media “disappears†a story?
Two days ago, I followed a link at Instapundit:
The link (in burgundy in the screenshot), points to:
http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2008/06/23/encounter-bids-the-new-york-times-farewell/
...a Pajamas Media opinion piece by Encounter Books publisher Roger Kimball. In it, Kimball announced that his company had decided to stop providing review copies of its new publications to The New York Times, and gave his reasons. First (if I recall correctly) because of the Times’s penchant for giving unfairly unfavorable[1] reviews to anything contaminated with the least taint of conservatism. Second, because the explosion of alternate channels of publicity (along with the Times’s decline) means that a Times review today is no longer as valuable for attracting readers as used to be. In the comments, one of Encounter’s authors chimed in, and in passing (but, I’m sure, fully intentionally), mentioned two of his own books. Both titles piqued my interest, but at that point I was interrupted, and had to close the page. However I did make a mental note to get back to it later, so I could add them to my want list.
That was two days ago.
This evening, my mental note percolated to the surface. So, back to Instapundit, scroll down to the link, click on it, and get... the Pajamas Media home page. Well, things like that can happen. Sometimes “permalinks,†well, aren’t.[2] Perhaps Glenn got the wrong one. Scan the page... Hmm... don’t see anything that looks like the article I read. Gee, it was only a couple of days ago- surely it can’t have scrolled off already! Let’s try the browser’s search: Find "Kimball".
K-Meleon finds one "Kimball" on the home page. This one:Encounter at 10: The Power of Ideas [video]Which is a video, not the piece I read. But look, the words “New York Times†in the last sentence are a link, a link which points to the same address as the Instapundit link, an address that no longer works.
Encounter Books authors Victor Davis Hanson and Andrew McCarthy and publisher Roger Kimball discuss the perils of conservative publishing with PJM's Roger L. Simon. The publishing house today announced a new policy vis-a-vis the New York Times.
One last try. Poke "Roger Kimball" into the PJM searchbox. The results: The video above, and several other items dating from April 19th or before. But “Encounter Bids the New York Times Farewell,†which was posted on June 23rd– and which I read– appears to have vanished.
Perhaps there were some second thoughts. Could be that, on reflection, the time for burning bridges with the Times hasn‘t come yet. That dying tiger can still do a lot of damage, especially if your business is as dominated by liberals and leftists as the book trade. Or perhaps some of Encounter’s other authors were heard from, authors surprised and dismayed by an announcement that came from out of the blue, without warning.
Maybe the article should have been more politic. Better if there’d been more nuance. Perhaps better if it hadn’t appeared at all.
Well, Kimball and Pajamas can do whatever they want. But it seems to me that making articles disappear ranks right up there with the frequently-condemned (e.g., over 600 results for the BBC) “stealth edits†practiced on the web by the legacy media. The malleability of the internet is a strength, but also a weakness: With dead trees, whether it’s an intemperate screed or a “Dewey Defeats Truman†howler, once it’s published it can’t be taken back.
If we who write on the web are to maintain our integrity, then, along with our prides and triumphs, our embarrassments and errors must remain visible. It may be uncomfortable, but it’s honest.
-----
[1] unfairly unfavorable (my term)- characterized by ad-hominem bashing, emotional appeals, and arguing off the point; as opposed to fairly unfavorable, being unfavorable while remaining intellectually honest in the process.
[2] For example, some “permalinksâ€actually point to the most recent of a series of posts. Often this variant is not obvious.
[2] For example, some “permalinksâ€actually point to the most recent of a series of posts. Often this variant is not obvious.
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Monday, 23 June 2008
Reporting from the corner of Westfield and Westfield
Indy blog meet: Good time was had by all, will hopefully have more to follow, as soon as I wake up.[1]
Meanwhile, I’m updating the “Bloggers I’ve Met†section on the sidebar. A great crowd.
Reports have already been posted by:
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Indy blog meet: Good time was had by all, will hopefully have more to follow, as soon as I wake up.[1]
Meanwhile, I’m updating the “Bloggers I’ve Met†section on the sidebar. A great crowd.
Reports have already been posted by:
-----
[1] I’m presently attempting to integrate a New Cat into the O.G. household. The New Cat is a real love who should fit in just fine, but so far the Current Cat is refusing to give her a chance... won’t even come out from under the bed. This has led to Much Growling and consequential Loss of Sleep.
[2] ...who mentions a certain “Riparian intersection†in a footnote. Yep, it’s true: The corner of Westfield Boulevard and Westfield Boulevard. (Almost like Greenwich Village, where West 4th Street intersects West 12th Street.) There’s a picture below the break...
more...
[2] ...who mentions a certain “Riparian intersection†in a footnote. Yep, it’s true: The corner of Westfield Boulevard and Westfield Boulevard. (Almost like Greenwich Village, where West 4th Street intersects West 12th Street.) There’s a picture below the break...
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Thursday, 19 June 2008
Reminder - Indy blog meet
Coming up this weekend:
Coming up this weekend:
Date: Sunday, June 22
Time: 3:00 pm
Place: Broad Ripple Brew Pub, 842 East 65th Street
Readers/lurkers welcome, too.Time: 3:00 pm
Place: Broad Ripple Brew Pub, 842 East 65th Street
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