Just a quick note to eagle-eyed Patio Boat blog followers. If the fine content you always see at this site seems a bit ... um, repetitive ... this month, it is. We're trying an experiment at work to see how tagging open web content with terms from Wikidata and the VIAF (Virtual International Authority File) affects web visibility.
Our hypothesis is that by adding some open-web authority control, we will make content more visible, which will result in seeing more hits for the tagged versions of the posts.
What I'll be doing is posting two versions of various posts that I've meant to write up this year, but haven't yet written up. One will be tagged with those open-web vocabulary terms, mostly names, but also a few concepts. One will just launch naked unto the web. (Note to self: the phrase "naked unto the web" will probably generate the most search hits of all.)
The idea is to see whether doing this tagging on the Blogger platform makes a significant different in the visibility of each post to search engines. The untagged versions will serve as a control. I'll be alternating posting the tagged and untagged versions of posts first, so that hopefully the release order won't affect the outcome.
I'll collect up the posts and some statistics here, as the experiment unfolds.
So stay tuned, gentle reader! The Patio Boat blog is embarking on its most ambitious scientific experiment since The Great Sierra-Nevada Beercicle Experiment of Twenty-Fifteen.
Update: We now have a few posts up. I won't link to them here. Obviously you can find them on the blog, but if you get a chance, go look out on the web and see if you can find them. Here are the topics:
1. Hurricane Matthew and its lingering economic impact on Freeport and Grand Bahama Island.
2. Some lovely prospective rat rods that I saw in Lebanon, Missouri.
Showing posts with label Metablog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Metablog. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Monday, September 11, 2017
The Trump Grind Grinds On; Plus, the Return of Photoblogging on the Ol' Patio Boat.
Just a quick update.
Yeah, I haven't posted on Trump since July. In part because it's been a busy couple of months, but mostly it's because I think we're settled in for the long haul. I doubt there'll be anything truly newsy amidst the noise -- and oh, there's lots of noise! -- until Special Counsel Bob Mueller issues whatever it is that he's going to issue, be it a big report, indictments, etc. For now, Mueller seems settled in for the long haul with a staff full of veteran money-laundering investigators and an arrangement with the New York Attorney General that seems designed to block the potential for Presidential pardons..
In the meantime, just about everything -- personnel shuffles, Congressional squabbles, salacious details -- is just background noise. Trump is an awful, incompetent president. In a way, I guess that's good because his incompetence may keep him from accomplishing a few terrible things. But his awfulness won't seem very good if we do accidentally end up in a nuclear war with North Korea. Mostly I'm just hoping that enough competence still remains at places like the Department of Defense and FEMA to get us through whatever comes up.
So here we are, churning away at Current Watergate Defcon Status: DEFCON 2, like a mega-hurricane circling in the middle of the Atlantic, waiting for a steering current to move us along.
In the meantime, the ol' Patio Boat has been horribly devoid of fun photos of fun places. And there has been some personal fun along the way. Monique and I took a trip to Tobago with my folks. We also hauled a couple of my nieces out to Wyoming to view the eclipse with my brother Mike, his family, and my folks. And there were lots and lots of cool cars everywhere this summer.
I've finally started to organize up a few of the photos, so look for some photoblogging coming soon to the ol' Patio Boat.
In the meantime, here, have a solar eclipse:
Yeah, I haven't posted on Trump since July. In part because it's been a busy couple of months, but mostly it's because I think we're settled in for the long haul. I doubt there'll be anything truly newsy amidst the noise -- and oh, there's lots of noise! -- until Special Counsel Bob Mueller issues whatever it is that he's going to issue, be it a big report, indictments, etc. For now, Mueller seems settled in for the long haul with a staff full of veteran money-laundering investigators and an arrangement with the New York Attorney General that seems designed to block the potential for Presidential pardons..
In the meantime, just about everything -- personnel shuffles, Congressional squabbles, salacious details -- is just background noise. Trump is an awful, incompetent president. In a way, I guess that's good because his incompetence may keep him from accomplishing a few terrible things. But his awfulness won't seem very good if we do accidentally end up in a nuclear war with North Korea. Mostly I'm just hoping that enough competence still remains at places like the Department of Defense and FEMA to get us through whatever comes up.
So here we are, churning away at Current Watergate Defcon Status: DEFCON 2, like a mega-hurricane circling in the middle of the Atlantic, waiting for a steering current to move us along.
In the meantime, the ol' Patio Boat has been horribly devoid of fun photos of fun places. And there has been some personal fun along the way. Monique and I took a trip to Tobago with my folks. We also hauled a couple of my nieces out to Wyoming to view the eclipse with my brother Mike, his family, and my folks. And there were lots and lots of cool cars everywhere this summer.
I've finally started to organize up a few of the photos, so look for some photoblogging coming soon to the ol' Patio Boat.
In the meantime, here, have a solar eclipse:
Friday, September 26, 2014
The Collected Big Road Trip Posts
A bit of housekeeping. Here, collected in one place are the links out to the various photoblog posts for this summer's Big Road Trip:
Out-of-office doggerel
Day Zero - The Dream Cruise
Days One through Three (Chicago, South Dakota)
Inside the Jaguar
Days Four and Five (Jewel Cave, Devil's Tower, Wyoming)
Day Six (Hot Springs State Park in Wyoming)
Yellowstone - Setting up Camp and Old Faithful
The Big Road Trip: Yellowstone - A Walk along the Upper Geyser Basin
Day Seven, Yellowstone Afternoon (Paint Pots, canyon, grizzly, elk)
Sunday in Yellowstone (bison, Mammoth Hot Springs, black bear)
Sunset in the Grand Tetons
Day Nine - A Drive Through the Rockies
Final Stop - A Visit with Babs at Lake Lotawana, Missouri
And here's a picture of Big Smoky photobombing the Grand Tetons. Just because.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
A Patio Boat first: a correction!
Well, whaddya know. Somebody wrote in to correct my mistake in incorrectly identifying the owner/creator of an extremely cool Gremlin in my post about the Gremlins I saw at this winter's Detroit Autorama.
I believe this to be the first correction I've had to make in more than 600 posts. Sadly, I suspect that is more a comment on my lack of readership than the razor-sharp accuracy of my writing. (Admittedly, Monique has complained loudly about me calling Katie the Beagle a "fat beagle" in these parts But since a photo of that pudgy little bucket of furry love shows up at #35 on the list of images Google brings back for the phrase "fat beagle", who am I to argue with the geniuses at Google?)
In any event, I made the correction and threw a little Edit box down at the bottom of the post, as such:
[Edit: This post was corrected to show that Ray Lewis, Jr., was the actual owner/creator of the burgundy Gremlin. My apologies to Mr. Lewis and his inexplicably awesome Gremlin for the misattribution.]
I also reckoned I'd make an actual post with the correction included because ... well, I hate corrections that slink in the back door at the bottom of a post. So here it is, loudly proclaimed to my ever-dwindling blog readership. What you should really all do is click on the link to the post and check out that car. It's awesome.
Ahhh, if only all my mistakes were that easy to correct.
I believe this to be the first correction I've had to make in more than 600 posts. Sadly, I suspect that is more a comment on my lack of readership than the razor-sharp accuracy of my writing. (Admittedly, Monique has complained loudly about me calling Katie the Beagle a "fat beagle" in these parts But since a photo of that pudgy little bucket of furry love shows up at #35 on the list of images Google brings back for the phrase "fat beagle", who am I to argue with the geniuses at Google?)
In any event, I made the correction and threw a little Edit box down at the bottom of the post, as such:
[Edit: This post was corrected to show that Ray Lewis, Jr., was the actual owner/creator of the burgundy Gremlin. My apologies to Mr. Lewis and his inexplicably awesome Gremlin for the misattribution.]
I also reckoned I'd make an actual post with the correction included because ... well, I hate corrections that slink in the back door at the bottom of a post. So here it is, loudly proclaimed to my ever-dwindling blog readership. What you should really all do is click on the link to the post and check out that car. It's awesome.
Ahhh, if only all my mistakes were that easy to correct.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
We're in the money! We're in the money!
I didn't start this blog with any crazy dreams of becoming a blogosphere billionaire. But at some point shortly after I started it up, I reckoned I'd throw a few Google ads on the page, mostly out of curiosity about how the whole blog/ad revenue thing worked. It turns out that the first thing I learned was that Google doesn't pay out anything until you reach $100.
For the first few months the totals piled up in numbers that were shocking to me, given the low traffic at a friends-and-family sort of blog devoted to beagle haiku, my own fantasy sports teams, and random photos of stuff. Then the revenues dried up and the totals increased by mere pennies a month. I reckoned that either a few friends and family members had tired of clicking on ads, or that Google had changed their payment algorithm to more accurately reflect the very limited desirability of the advertising demographic drawn by hound-based poetry.
Either way, my dream of making literally dozens of dollars a year while blogging from the comfort of my own home had come to a screeching halt.
Oh, I'd check in every few months to see if I'd come any closer to the magic $100 mark, but more to satisfy my abstract curiosity than my pecuniary interest. I'd crossed the $99 mark a while ago, so I'd begun to wonder whether I could ever cross the magic $100 mark or if this was instead the Zeno's Paradox of the digital economy.
And then, lo and behold, what should I see in my e-mail inbox today?
-----
From: billing-noreply@google.com
Time: Today at 12:51 AM
Please note that we've recently issued a payment to you for your Google AdSense earnings on Mar 25, 2014. Your payment has been sent and should be arriving shortly. For more information, please log into your account and visit your Payment summary page. You may also be able to find a reference number there to track or pick up your payment.
Sincerely,
The Google Billing Team
-----
I'm gobsmacked!
I'd like to thank Katie the Beagle, Melanie Monagon's Drag-Racing Gremlin, and everybody in between. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with this windfall (I'm open to suggestions!) but I'll be sure you let my vast and profitable Patio Boat audience know what you bought me.
Now get out there and click on some ads. Let's get that next hundred dollars here by 2020 AD!
For the first few months the totals piled up in numbers that were shocking to me, given the low traffic at a friends-and-family sort of blog devoted to beagle haiku, my own fantasy sports teams, and random photos of stuff. Then the revenues dried up and the totals increased by mere pennies a month. I reckoned that either a few friends and family members had tired of clicking on ads, or that Google had changed their payment algorithm to more accurately reflect the very limited desirability of the advertising demographic drawn by hound-based poetry.
Either way, my dream of making literally dozens of dollars a year while blogging from the comfort of my own home had come to a screeching halt.
Oh, I'd check in every few months to see if I'd come any closer to the magic $100 mark, but more to satisfy my abstract curiosity than my pecuniary interest. I'd crossed the $99 mark a while ago, so I'd begun to wonder whether I could ever cross the magic $100 mark or if this was instead the Zeno's Paradox of the digital economy.
And then, lo and behold, what should I see in my e-mail inbox today?
-----
From: billing-noreply@google.com
Time: Today at 12:51 AM
Please note that we've recently issued a payment to you for your Google AdSense earnings on Mar 25, 2014. Your payment has been sent and should be arriving shortly. For more information, please log into your account and visit your Payment summary page. You may also be able to find a reference number there to track or pick up your payment.
Sincerely,
The Google Billing Team
-----
I'm gobsmacked!
I'd like to thank Katie the Beagle, Melanie Monagon's Drag-Racing Gremlin, and everybody in between. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with this windfall (I'm open to suggestions!) but I'll be sure you let my vast and profitable Patio Boat audience know what you bought me.
Now get out there and click on some ads. Let's get that next hundred dollars here by 2020 AD!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
The Rosetta Stone of Blog Spam!
So, this turned up for Monique this morning in the comments on her Marketsize blog. Apparently one of the world's semi-automated spammers failed to explain to a new spammer that you're supposed to pick and choose from their Template o'Spam, not cut and paste the entire thing directly into a comments field. And, yes, for those who aren't aware of the practice, there are companies that hire out this sort of commenting -- generally at a very low rate in places like India and the Phillipines -- to try to get their links past various spam filters, which have gotten pretty good in most of the blog world.
If you blog at all, I'm sure you've seen some of these comments in your comments section.
There are many great comments below, but the Irony Champion of 2013 is this:
{Howdy|Hi there|Hi|Hello}, i read your blog {occasionally|from time to time} and i own a similar one and i was just {wondering|curious} if you get a lot of spam {comments|responses|feedback|remarks}? If so how do you {prevent|reduce|stop|protect against} it, any plugin or anything you can {advise|suggest|recommend}? I get so much lately it’s driving me {mad|insane|crazy} so any {assistance|help|support} is very much appreciated.
To give this question the sincere response it deserves, I say simply that I keep the spammers away by deleting spammy comments like that one. (I suppose I also cleverly keep the spammers away by keeping my readership incredibly low: a half-dozen family members, three friends, and an old lady who lives with 53 cats in a shack in Eastern Oregon. But that sort of low-readership strategy isn't for everybody.)
For best effect, I recommend reading the whole long list in the voice of a hardcore poetry slam contestant with a bit of a driving beat behind it. Maybe even with a bit of the music from Eminen's "Stan" to accompany you since the cumulative effect is rather like being stalked by an obsessed and crazed spammer.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you The Rosetta Stone of Blog Spam!
Enjoy!
-------
{I have|I’ve} been {surfing|browsing} online more than {three|3|2|4} hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. {It’s|It is} pretty worth enough for me.
{In my opinion|Personally|In my view}, if all {webmasters|site owners|website owners|web owners} and bloggers made good content as you did, the {internet|net|web} will be {much more|a lot more} useful than ever before.
|
I {couldn’t|could not} {resist|refrain from} commenting. {Very well|Perfectly|Well|Exceptionally well} written!
|
{I will|I’ll} {right away|immediately} {take hold of|grab|clutch|grasp|seize|snatch}
your {rss|rss feed} as I {can not|can’t} {in finding|find|to find} your {email|e-mail} subscription {link|hyperlink} or {newsletter|e-newsletter} service. Do {you have|you’ve} any?
{Please|Kindly} {allow|permit|let} me {realize|recognize|understand|recognise|know} {so that|in
order that} I {may just|may|could} subscribe.
Thanks.
|
{It is|It’s} {appropriate|perfect|the best} time to make some plans for the future and {it is|it’s} time to be happy. {I have|I’ve} read this post and if I could I {want to|wish to|desire to} suggest you {few|some} interesting things or {advice|suggestions|tips}. {Perhaps|Maybe} you {could|can} write next articles referring to this article. I {want to|wish to|desire to} read {more|even more} things about it!
|
{It is|It’s} {appropriate|perfect|the best} time to make {a few|some} plans for {the future|the longer term|the long run} and {it is|it’s} time to be happy. {I have|I’ve} {read|learn} this post|submit|publish|put up} and if I {may just|may|could} I {want to|wish to|desire to} {suggest|recommend|counsel} you {few|some} {interesting|fascinating|attention-grabbing} {things|issues} or {advice|suggestions|tips}.
{Perhaps|Maybe} you {could|can} write {next|subsequent} articles {relating to|referring to|regarding}this article. I {want to|wish to|desire to} {read|learn} {more|even more} {things|issues}
{approximately|about} it!
|
{I have|I’ve} been {surfing|browsing} {online|on-line} {more than|greater than} {three|3} hours {these days|nowadays|today|lately|as of late}, {yet|but} I {never|by no means} {found|discovered} any {interesting|fascinating|attention-grabbing} article like yours. {It’s|It is}
{lovely|pretty|beautiful} {worth|value|price} {enough|sufficient} for me.
|
{In my opinion|Personally|In my view}, if all {webmasters|site owners|website owners|web owners} and bloggers made {just right|good|excellent} {content|content material} as {you did|you probably did}, the {internet|net|web} {will be|shall be|might be|will probably be|can be|will
likely be} {much more|a lot more} {useful|helpful} than ever before.
|
Ahaa, its {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {discussion|conversation|dialogue} {regarding|concerning|about|on the topic of} this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} {here|at this place} at this {blog|weblog|webpage|website|web site}, I have read all that, so {now|at this time} me also commenting {here|at this place}.
|
I am sure this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} has touched all the internet {users|people|viewers|visitors}, its really really {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} on building up new {blog|weblog|webpage|website|web site}.
|
Wow, this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} is {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious}, my {sister|younger sister} is analyzing {such|these|these kinds of} things, {so|thus|therefore} I
am going to {tell|inform|let know|convey} her.
|
{Saved as a favorite|bookmarked!!}, {I really like|I like|I love} {your blog|your site|your
web site|your website}!
|
Way cool! Some {very|extremely} valid points! I appreciate you {writing this|penning this}
{article|post|write-up} {and the|and also the|plus the} rest of the {site is|website is} {also very|extremely|very|also really|really} good.
|
Hi, {I do believe|I do think} {this is an excellent|this is a great} {blog|website|web
site|site}. I stumbledupon it {I will|I am going to|I’m going to|I may} {come back|return|revisit} {once again|yet again} {since I|since i have} {bookmarked|book marked|book-marked|saved as a favorite} it. Money and freedom {is the best|is the greatest} way to change, may you be rich and continue to {help|guide} {other people|others}.
|
Woah! I’m really {loving|enjoying|digging} the template/theme of this {site|website|blog}.
It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s {very hard|very difficult|challenging|tough|difficult|hard} to get that “perfect balance” between {superb usability|user friendliness|usability} and {visual appearance|visual appeal|appearance}.
|
I must say {that you’ve|you have|you’ve} done a {awesome|amazing|very good|superb|fantastic|excellent|great} job with this.
{In addition|Additionally|Also}, the blog loads {very|extremely|super} {fast|quick}
for me on {Safari|Internet explorer|Chrome|Opera|Firefox}.
{Superb|Exceptional|Outstanding|Excellent} Blog!
|
These are {really|actually|in fact|truly|genuinely} {great|enormous|impressive|wonderful|fantastic} ideas in {regarding|concerning|about|on the topic of} blogging.
|
You have touched some {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {points|factors|things} here.
Any way keep up wrinting.
|
{I love|I really like|I enjoy|I like|Everyone loves} what you guys {are|are
usually|tend to be} up too. {This sort of|This type of|Such|This kind of} clever work and {exposure|coverage|reporting}! Keep up the {superb|terrific|very good|great|good|awesome|fantastic|excellent|amazing|wonderful} works guys I’ve {incorporated||added|included} you guys to {|my|our||my personal|my own} blogroll.
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Hey}! Someone in my {Myspace|Facebook} group shared this {site|website} with us so I came to {give it a look|look it over|take a look|check it out}. I’m definitely {enjoying|loving} the information.
I’m {book-marking|bookmarking} and will be tweeting this to my followers! {Terrific|Wonderful|Great|Fantastic|Outstanding|Exceptional|Superb|Excellent} blog and {wonderful|terrific|brilliant|amazing|great|excellent|fantastic|outstanding|superb} {style and design|design and style|design}.
|
{I love|I really like|I enjoy|I like|Everyone loves} what you guys {are|are usually|tend to be} up too. {This sort of|This type of|Such|This kind of} clever work and {exposure|coverage|reporting}! Keep up the {superb|terrific|very good|great|good|awesome|fantastic|excellent|amazing|wonderful} works guys I’ve {incorporated|added|included} you guys to {|my|our|my personal|my own} blogroll.
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Hey} would you mind {stating|sharing} which blog platform you’re {working with|using}? I’m {looking|planning|going} to start my own blog {in the near future|soon} but I’m having a {tough|difficult|hard} time {making a decision|selecting|choosing|deciding} between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your {design and style|design|layout} seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something {completely unique|unique}.
P.S {My apologies|Apologies|Sorry} for {getting|being} off-topic but I had to ask!
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hi|Hey there|Hello|Hey} would you mind letting me know which {webhost|hosting company|web host} you’re {utilizing|working with|using}? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 {completely different|different} {internet browsers|web browsers|browsers} and I must say this blog loads a lot {quicker|faster} then most. Can you {suggest|recommend} a good {internet hosting|web hosting|hosting} provider at a {honest|reasonable|fair} price?
{Thanks a lot|Kudos|Cheers|Thank you|Many thanks|Thanks}, I appreciate it!
|
{I love|I really like|I like|Everyone loves} it {when people|when individuals|when folks|whenever people} {come together|get together} and share {opinions|thoughts|views|ideas}.
Great {blog|website|site}, {keep it up|continue the good work|stick with it}!
|
Thank you for the {auspicious|good} writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.
Look advanced to {far|more} added agreeable from you!
{By the way|However}, how {can|could} we communicate?
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hello|Hey} just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
The {text|words} in your {content|post|article} seem to be running off the screen in {Ie|Internet explorer|Chrome|Firefox|Safari|Opera}.
I’m not sure if this is a {format|formatting} issue or something to do with {web browser|internet browser|browser} compatibility but I {thought|figured} I’d post to let you know. The {style and design|design and style|layout|design} look great though!
Hope you get the {problem|issue} {solved|resolved|fixed} soon.
{Kudos|Cheers|Many thanks|Thanks}
|
This is a topic {that is|that’s|which is} {close to|near to} my heart… {Cheers|Many thanks|Best wishes|Take care|Thank you}! {Where|Exactly where} are your contact details though?
|
It’s very {easy|simple|trouble-free|straightforward|effortless} to find out any {topic|matter} on {net|web} as compared to {books|textbooks}, as I found this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} at this {website|web site|site|web page}.
|
Does your {site|website|blog} have a contact page?
I’m having {a tough time|problems|trouble} locating it but, I’d like to
{send|shoot} you an {e-mail|email}. I’ve got some {creative ideas|recommendations|suggestions|ideas} for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great {site|website|blog} and I look forward to seeing it {develop|improve|expand|grow} over time.
|
{Hola|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Greetings}! I’ve been {following|reading} your {site|web site|website|weblog|blog} for {a long time|a while|some time} now and finally got the {bravery|courage} to go ahead and give you a shout out from {New Caney|Kingwood|Huffman|Porter|Houston|Dallas|Austin|Lubbock|Humble|Atascocita}
{Tx|Texas}! Just wanted to {tell you|mention|say} keep up the {fantastic|excellent|great|good} {job|work}!
|
Greetings from {Idaho|Carolina|Ohio|Colorado|Florida|Los angeles|California}!
I’m {bored to tears|bored to death|bored} at work so I decided to {check out|browse} your {site|website|blog} on my iphone during lunch break. I {enjoy|really like|love} the {knowledge|info|information} you {present|provide} here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m {shocked|amazed|surprised} at how {quick|fast} your blog loaded on my {mobile|cell phone|phone} .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. {Anyhow|Anyways}, {awesome|amazing|very good|superb|good|wonderful|fantastic|excellent|great} {site|blog}!
|
Its {like you|such as you} {read|learn} my {mind|thoughts}!
You {seem|appear} {to understand|to know|to grasp} {so much|a lot} {approximately|about} this, {like you|such as you} wrote the {book|e-book|guide|ebook|e book} in it or something. {I think|I feel|I believe} {that you|that you simply|that you just} {could|can} do with {some|a few} {%|p.c.|percent} to {force|pressure|drive|power} the message {house|home} {a bit|a little bit}, {however|but} {other than|instead of} that, {this is|that is} {great|wonderful|fantastic|magnificent|excellent} blog. {A great|An excellent|A fantastic} read. {I’ll|I will} {definitely|certainly} be back.
|
I visited {multiple|many|several|various} {websites|sites|web sites|web pages|blogs} {but|except|however} the audio {quality|feature} for audio songs {current|present|existing} at this {website|web site|site|web page} is {really|actually|in fact|truly|genuinely} {marvelous|wonderful|excellent|fabulous|superb}.
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hi|Hello}, i read your blog {occasionally|from time to time} and i own a similar one and i was just {wondering|curious} if you get a lot of spam {comments|responses|feedback|remarks}? If so how do you {prevent|reduce|stop|protect against} it, any plugin or anything you can {advise|suggest|recommend}? I get so much lately it’s driving me {mad|insane|crazy} so any {assistance|help|support} is very much appreciated.
|
Greetings! {Very helpful|Very useful} advice {within this|in this particular} {article|post}! {It is the|It’s the} little changes {that make|which will make|that produce|that will make} {the biggest|the largest|the greatest|the most important|the most significant} changes. {Thanks a lot|Thanks|Many thanks} for sharing!
|
{I really|I truly|I seriously|I absolutely} love {your blog|your site|your website}.. {Very nice|Excellent|Pleasant|Great} colors & theme. Did you {create|develop|make|build} {this website|this site|this web site|this amazing site} yourself? Please reply back as I’m {looking to|trying to|planning to|wanting to|hoping to|attempting to} create {my own|my very own|my own personal} {blog|website|site} and {would like to|want to|would love to} {know|learn|find out} where you got this from or {what the|exactly what the|just what the} theme {is called|is named}. {Thanks|Many thanks|Thank you|Cheers|Appreciate it|Kudos}!
|
{Hi there|Hello there|Howdy}! This {post|article|blog post} {couldn’t|could not} be written {any better|much better}! {Reading through|Looking at|Going through|Looking through} this {post|article} reminds me of my previous roommate! He {always|constantly|continually} kept {talking about|preaching about} this. {I will|I’ll|I am going to|I most certainly will} {forward|send} {this article|this information|this post} to him. {Pretty sure|Fairly certain} {he will|he’ll|he’s going to} {have a good|have a very good|have a great} read. {Thank you for|Thanks for|Many thanks for|I appreciate you for} sharing!
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{Wow|Whoa|Incredible|Amazing}! This blog looks {exactly|just} like my old one! It’s on a {completely|entirely|totally} different {topic|subject} but it has pretty much the same {layout|page layout} and design. {Excellent|Wonderful|Great|Outstanding|Superb} choice of colors!|
{There is|There’s} {definately|certainly} {a lot to|a great deal to} {know about|learn about|find out about} this {subject|topic|issue}. {I like|I love|I really like} {all the|all of the} points {you made|you’ve made|you have made}.
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{You made|You’ve made|You have made} some {decent|good|really good} points there. I {looked|checked} {on the internet|on the web|on the net} {for more info|for more information|to find out more|to learn more|for additional information} about the issue and found {most individuals|most people} will go along with your views on {this website|this site|this web site}.
|
{Hi|Hello|Hi there|What’s up}, I {log on to|check|read} your {new stuff|blogs|blog} {regularly|like every week|daily|on a regular basis}. Your {story-telling|writing|humoristic} style is {awesome|witty}, keep {doing what you’re doing|up the good work|it up}!
|
I {simply|just} {could not|couldn’t} {leave|depart|go away} your {site|web site|website} {prior to|before} suggesting that I {really|extremely|actually} {enjoyed|loved} {the standard|the usual} {information|info} {a person|an individual} {supply|provide} {for your|on your|in your|to your} {visitors|guests}? Is {going to|gonna} be {back|again} {frequently|regularly|incessantly|steadily|ceaselessly|often|continuously} {in order to|to} {check up on|check out|inspect|investigate cross-check} new posts
|
{I wanted|I needed|I want to|I need to} to thank you for this {great|excellent|fantastic|wonderful|good|very good} read!! I {definitely|certainly|absolutely} {enjoyed|loved} every {little bit of|bit of} it. {I have|I’ve got|I have got} you {bookmarked|book marked|book-marked|saved as a favorite} {to check out|to look at} new {stuff you|things you} post…
|
{Hi|Hello|Hi there|What’s up}, just wanted to {mention|say|tell you}, I {enjoyed|liked|loved} this {article|post|blog post}. It was {inspiring|funny|practical|helpful}. Keep on posting!
|
I {{leave|drop|{write|create}} a {comment|leave a response}|drop a {comment|leave a response}|{comment|leave a response}} {each time|when|whenever} I {appreciate|like|especially enjoy} a {post|article} on a {site|{blog|website}|site|website} or {I have|if I have} something to {add|contribute|valuable to contribute} {to the discussion|to the conversation}. {It is|Usually it is|Usually it’s|It’s} {a result of|triggered by|caused by} the {passion|fire|sincerness} {communicated|displayed} in the {post|article} I {read|looked at|browsed}. And {on|after} this {post|article}
If you blog at all, I'm sure you've seen some of these comments in your comments section.
There are many great comments below, but the Irony Champion of 2013 is this:
{Howdy|Hi there|Hi|Hello}, i read your blog {occasionally|from time to time} and i own a similar one and i was just {wondering|curious} if you get a lot of spam {comments|responses|feedback|remarks}? If so how do you {prevent|reduce|stop|protect against} it, any plugin or anything you can {advise|suggest|recommend}? I get so much lately it’s driving me {mad|insane|crazy} so any {assistance|help|support} is very much appreciated.
To give this question the sincere response it deserves, I say simply that I keep the spammers away by deleting spammy comments like that one. (I suppose I also cleverly keep the spammers away by keeping my readership incredibly low: a half-dozen family members, three friends, and an old lady who lives with 53 cats in a shack in Eastern Oregon. But that sort of low-readership strategy isn't for everybody.)
For best effect, I recommend reading the whole long list in the voice of a hardcore poetry slam contestant with a bit of a driving beat behind it. Maybe even with a bit of the music from Eminen's "Stan" to accompany you since the cumulative effect is rather like being stalked by an obsessed and crazed spammer.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you The Rosetta Stone of Blog Spam!
Enjoy!
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{I have|I’ve} been {surfing|browsing} online more than {three|3|2|4} hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. {It’s|It is} pretty worth enough for me.
{In my opinion|Personally|In my view}, if all {webmasters|site owners|website owners|web owners} and bloggers made good content as you did, the {internet|net|web} will be {much more|a lot more} useful than ever before.
|
I {couldn’t|could not} {resist|refrain from} commenting. {Very well|Perfectly|Well|Exceptionally well} written!
|
{I will|I’ll} {right away|immediately} {take hold of|grab|clutch|grasp|seize|snatch}
your {rss|rss feed} as I {can not|can’t} {in finding|find|to find} your {email|e-mail} subscription {link|hyperlink} or {newsletter|e-newsletter} service. Do {you have|you’ve} any?
{Please|Kindly} {allow|permit|let} me {realize|recognize|understand|recognise|know} {so that|in
order that} I {may just|may|could} subscribe.
Thanks.
|
{It is|It’s} {appropriate|perfect|the best} time to make some plans for the future and {it is|it’s} time to be happy. {I have|I’ve} read this post and if I could I {want to|wish to|desire to} suggest you {few|some} interesting things or {advice|suggestions|tips}. {Perhaps|Maybe} you {could|can} write next articles referring to this article. I {want to|wish to|desire to} read {more|even more} things about it!
|
{It is|It’s} {appropriate|perfect|the best} time to make {a few|some} plans for {the future|the longer term|the long run} and {it is|it’s} time to be happy. {I have|I’ve} {read|learn} this post|submit|publish|put up} and if I {may just|may|could} I {want to|wish to|desire to} {suggest|recommend|counsel} you {few|some} {interesting|fascinating|attention-grabbing} {things|issues} or {advice|suggestions|tips}.
{Perhaps|Maybe} you {could|can} write {next|subsequent} articles {relating to|referring to|regarding}this article. I {want to|wish to|desire to} {read|learn} {more|even more} {things|issues}
{approximately|about} it!
|
{I have|I’ve} been {surfing|browsing} {online|on-line} {more than|greater than} {three|3} hours {these days|nowadays|today|lately|as of late}, {yet|but} I {never|by no means} {found|discovered} any {interesting|fascinating|attention-grabbing} article like yours. {It’s|It is}
{lovely|pretty|beautiful} {worth|value|price} {enough|sufficient} for me.
|
{In my opinion|Personally|In my view}, if all {webmasters|site owners|website owners|web owners} and bloggers made {just right|good|excellent} {content|content material} as {you did|you probably did}, the {internet|net|web} {will be|shall be|might be|will probably be|can be|will
likely be} {much more|a lot more} {useful|helpful} than ever before.
|
Ahaa, its {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {discussion|conversation|dialogue} {regarding|concerning|about|on the topic of} this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} {here|at this place} at this {blog|weblog|webpage|website|web site}, I have read all that, so {now|at this time} me also commenting {here|at this place}.
|
I am sure this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} has touched all the internet {users|people|viewers|visitors}, its really really {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} on building up new {blog|weblog|webpage|website|web site}.
|
Wow, this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} is {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious}, my {sister|younger sister} is analyzing {such|these|these kinds of} things, {so|thus|therefore} I
am going to {tell|inform|let know|convey} her.
|
{Saved as a favorite|bookmarked!!}, {I really like|I like|I love} {your blog|your site|your
web site|your website}!
|
Way cool! Some {very|extremely} valid points! I appreciate you {writing this|penning this}
{article|post|write-up} {and the|and also the|plus the} rest of the {site is|website is} {also very|extremely|very|also really|really} good.
|
Hi, {I do believe|I do think} {this is an excellent|this is a great} {blog|website|web
site|site}. I stumbledupon it {I will|I am going to|I’m going to|I may} {come back|return|revisit} {once again|yet again} {since I|since i have} {bookmarked|book marked|book-marked|saved as a favorite} it. Money and freedom {is the best|is the greatest} way to change, may you be rich and continue to {help|guide} {other people|others}.
|
Woah! I’m really {loving|enjoying|digging} the template/theme of this {site|website|blog}.
It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s {very hard|very difficult|challenging|tough|difficult|hard} to get that “perfect balance” between {superb usability|user friendliness|usability} and {visual appearance|visual appeal|appearance}.
|
I must say {that you’ve|you have|you’ve} done a {awesome|amazing|very good|superb|fantastic|excellent|great} job with this.
{In addition|Additionally|Also}, the blog loads {very|extremely|super} {fast|quick}
for me on {Safari|Internet explorer|Chrome|Opera|Firefox}.
{Superb|Exceptional|Outstanding|Excellent} Blog!
|
These are {really|actually|in fact|truly|genuinely} {great|enormous|impressive|wonderful|fantastic} ideas in {regarding|concerning|about|on the topic of} blogging.
|
You have touched some {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {points|factors|things} here.
Any way keep up wrinting.
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{I love|I really like|I enjoy|I like|Everyone loves} what you guys {are|are
usually|tend to be} up too. {This sort of|This type of|Such|This kind of} clever work and {exposure|coverage|reporting}! Keep up the {superb|terrific|very good|great|good|awesome|fantastic|excellent|amazing|wonderful} works guys I’ve {incorporated||added|included} you guys to {|my|our||my personal|my own} blogroll.
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Hey}! Someone in my {Myspace|Facebook} group shared this {site|website} with us so I came to {give it a look|look it over|take a look|check it out}. I’m definitely {enjoying|loving} the information.
I’m {book-marking|bookmarking} and will be tweeting this to my followers! {Terrific|Wonderful|Great|Fantastic|Outstanding|Exceptional|Superb|Excellent} blog and {wonderful|terrific|brilliant|amazing|great|excellent|fantastic|outstanding|superb} {style and design|design and style|design}.
|
{I love|I really like|I enjoy|I like|Everyone loves} what you guys {are|are usually|tend to be} up too. {This sort of|This type of|Such|This kind of} clever work and {exposure|coverage|reporting}! Keep up the {superb|terrific|very good|great|good|awesome|fantastic|excellent|amazing|wonderful} works guys I’ve {incorporated|added|included} you guys to {|my|our|my personal|my own} blogroll.
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Hey} would you mind {stating|sharing} which blog platform you’re {working with|using}? I’m {looking|planning|going} to start my own blog {in the near future|soon} but I’m having a {tough|difficult|hard} time {making a decision|selecting|choosing|deciding} between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your {design and style|design|layout} seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something {completely unique|unique}.
P.S {My apologies|Apologies|Sorry} for {getting|being} off-topic but I had to ask!
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hi|Hey there|Hello|Hey} would you mind letting me know which {webhost|hosting company|web host} you’re {utilizing|working with|using}? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 {completely different|different} {internet browsers|web browsers|browsers} and I must say this blog loads a lot {quicker|faster} then most. Can you {suggest|recommend} a good {internet hosting|web hosting|hosting} provider at a {honest|reasonable|fair} price?
{Thanks a lot|Kudos|Cheers|Thank you|Many thanks|Thanks}, I appreciate it!
|
{I love|I really like|I like|Everyone loves} it {when people|when individuals|when folks|whenever people} {come together|get together} and share {opinions|thoughts|views|ideas}.
Great {blog|website|site}, {keep it up|continue the good work|stick with it}!
|
Thank you for the {auspicious|good} writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.
Look advanced to {far|more} added agreeable from you!
{By the way|However}, how {can|could} we communicate?
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hello|Hey} just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
The {text|words} in your {content|post|article} seem to be running off the screen in {Ie|Internet explorer|Chrome|Firefox|Safari|Opera}.
I’m not sure if this is a {format|formatting} issue or something to do with {web browser|internet browser|browser} compatibility but I {thought|figured} I’d post to let you know. The {style and design|design and style|layout|design} look great though!
Hope you get the {problem|issue} {solved|resolved|fixed} soon.
{Kudos|Cheers|Many thanks|Thanks}
|
This is a topic {that is|that’s|which is} {close to|near to} my heart… {Cheers|Many thanks|Best wishes|Take care|Thank you}! {Where|Exactly where} are your contact details though?
|
It’s very {easy|simple|trouble-free|straightforward|effortless} to find out any {topic|matter} on {net|web} as compared to {books|textbooks}, as I found this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} at this {website|web site|site|web page}.
|
Does your {site|website|blog} have a contact page?
I’m having {a tough time|problems|trouble} locating it but, I’d like to
{send|shoot} you an {e-mail|email}. I’ve got some {creative ideas|recommendations|suggestions|ideas} for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great {site|website|blog} and I look forward to seeing it {develop|improve|expand|grow} over time.
|
{Hola|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Greetings}! I’ve been {following|reading} your {site|web site|website|weblog|blog} for {a long time|a while|some time} now and finally got the {bravery|courage} to go ahead and give you a shout out from {New Caney|Kingwood|Huffman|Porter|Houston|Dallas|Austin|Lubbock|Humble|Atascocita}
{Tx|Texas}! Just wanted to {tell you|mention|say} keep up the {fantastic|excellent|great|good} {job|work}!
|
Greetings from {Idaho|Carolina|Ohio|Colorado|Florida|Los angeles|California}!
I’m {bored to tears|bored to death|bored} at work so I decided to {check out|browse} your {site|website|blog} on my iphone during lunch break. I {enjoy|really like|love} the {knowledge|info|information} you {present|provide} here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m {shocked|amazed|surprised} at how {quick|fast} your blog loaded on my {mobile|cell phone|phone} .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. {Anyhow|Anyways}, {awesome|amazing|very good|superb|good|wonderful|fantastic|excellent|great} {site|blog}!
|
Its {like you|such as you} {read|learn} my {mind|thoughts}!
You {seem|appear} {to understand|to know|to grasp} {so much|a lot} {approximately|about} this, {like you|such as you} wrote the {book|e-book|guide|ebook|e book} in it or something. {I think|I feel|I believe} {that you|that you simply|that you just} {could|can} do with {some|a few} {%|p.c.|percent} to {force|pressure|drive|power} the message {house|home} {a bit|a little bit}, {however|but} {other than|instead of} that, {this is|that is} {great|wonderful|fantastic|magnificent|excellent} blog. {A great|An excellent|A fantastic} read. {I’ll|I will} {definitely|certainly} be back.
|
I visited {multiple|many|several|various} {websites|sites|web sites|web pages|blogs} {but|except|however} the audio {quality|feature} for audio songs {current|present|existing} at this {website|web site|site|web page} is {really|actually|in fact|truly|genuinely} {marvelous|wonderful|excellent|fabulous|superb}.
|
{Howdy|Hi there|Hi|Hello}, i read your blog {occasionally|from time to time} and i own a similar one and i was just {wondering|curious} if you get a lot of spam {comments|responses|feedback|remarks}? If so how do you {prevent|reduce|stop|protect against} it, any plugin or anything you can {advise|suggest|recommend}? I get so much lately it’s driving me {mad|insane|crazy} so any {assistance|help|support} is very much appreciated.
|
Greetings! {Very helpful|Very useful} advice {within this|in this particular} {article|post}! {It is the|It’s the} little changes {that make|which will make|that produce|that will make} {the biggest|the largest|the greatest|the most important|the most significant} changes. {Thanks a lot|Thanks|Many thanks} for sharing!
|
{I really|I truly|I seriously|I absolutely} love {your blog|your site|your website}.. {Very nice|Excellent|Pleasant|Great} colors & theme. Did you {create|develop|make|build} {this website|this site|this web site|this amazing site} yourself? Please reply back as I’m {looking to|trying to|planning to|wanting to|hoping to|attempting to} create {my own|my very own|my own personal} {blog|website|site} and {would like to|want to|would love to} {know|learn|find out} where you got this from or {what the|exactly what the|just what the} theme {is called|is named}. {Thanks|Many thanks|Thank you|Cheers|Appreciate it|Kudos}!
|
{Hi there|Hello there|Howdy}! This {post|article|blog post} {couldn’t|could not} be written {any better|much better}! {Reading through|Looking at|Going through|Looking through} this {post|article} reminds me of my previous roommate! He {always|constantly|continually} kept {talking about|preaching about} this. {I will|I’ll|I am going to|I most certainly will} {forward|send} {this article|this information|this post} to him. {Pretty sure|Fairly certain} {he will|he’ll|he’s going to} {have a good|have a very good|have a great} read. {Thank you for|Thanks for|Many thanks for|I appreciate you for} sharing!
|
{Wow|Whoa|Incredible|Amazing}! This blog looks {exactly|just} like my old one! It’s on a {completely|entirely|totally} different {topic|subject} but it has pretty much the same {layout|page layout} and design. {Excellent|Wonderful|Great|Outstanding|Superb} choice of colors!|
{There is|There’s} {definately|certainly} {a lot to|a great deal to} {know about|learn about|find out about} this {subject|topic|issue}. {I like|I love|I really like} {all the|all of the} points {you made|you’ve made|you have made}.
|
{You made|You’ve made|You have made} some {decent|good|really good} points there. I {looked|checked} {on the internet|on the web|on the net} {for more info|for more information|to find out more|to learn more|for additional information} about the issue and found {most individuals|most people} will go along with your views on {this website|this site|this web site}.
|
{Hi|Hello|Hi there|What’s up}, I {log on to|check|read} your {new stuff|blogs|blog} {regularly|like every week|daily|on a regular basis}. Your {story-telling|writing|humoristic} style is {awesome|witty}, keep {doing what you’re doing|up the good work|it up}!
|
I {simply|just} {could not|couldn’t} {leave|depart|go away} your {site|web site|website} {prior to|before} suggesting that I {really|extremely|actually} {enjoyed|loved} {the standard|the usual} {information|info} {a person|an individual} {supply|provide} {for your|on your|in your|to your} {visitors|guests}? Is {going to|gonna} be {back|again} {frequently|regularly|incessantly|steadily|ceaselessly|often|continuously} {in order to|to} {check up on|check out|inspect|investigate cross-check} new posts
|
{I wanted|I needed|I want to|I need to} to thank you for this {great|excellent|fantastic|wonderful|good|very good} read!! I {definitely|certainly|absolutely} {enjoyed|loved} every {little bit of|bit of} it. {I have|I’ve got|I have got} you {bookmarked|book marked|book-marked|saved as a favorite} {to check out|to look at} new {stuff you|things you} post…
|
{Hi|Hello|Hi there|What’s up}, just wanted to {mention|say|tell you}, I {enjoyed|liked|loved} this {article|post|blog post}. It was {inspiring|funny|practical|helpful}. Keep on posting!
|
I {{leave|drop|{write|create}} a {comment|leave a response}|drop a {comment|leave a response}|{comment|leave a response}} {each time|when|whenever} I {appreciate|like|especially enjoy} a {post|article} on a {site|{blog|website}|site|website} or {I have|if I have} something to {add|contribute|valuable to contribute} {to the discussion|to the conversation}. {It is|Usually it is|Usually it’s|It’s} {a result of|triggered by|caused by} the {passion|fire|sincerness} {communicated|displayed} in the {post|article} I {read|looked at|browsed}. And {on|after} this {post|article}
Thursday, January 17, 2013
This n'that to kick off 2013
I've been a neglectful blogger thus far in 2013, so I reckoned I'd at least put together a little post with some updates and a bit of conversation about what the start of 2013 looks like to me.
The Grumpy Old Man Update
The second half of 2012 was a bit of a nag for me, healthwise. My busted and disclocated finger pretty much hurt like hell right into the fall, I tweaked my back again, and then Monique and I managed to come down with *two* rotten colds right in a row during the holidays.
Sheesh!
I have some friends and family members who've dealt with genuine life-threatening illnesses in the last year, so I'm truly grateful that none of those woes were anywhere in that neighborhood. But I did notice that it really had an impact on my overall productivity. Sometimes I like to think that I mostly just sloth around and don't do much, but the last six or eight months made me realize how much I usually do get done. One of the reasons you've all seen less blogging around here lately is that the blog had to take a bit of a back seat as I tried to at least take care of the minimum on other fronts.
So I'm going to try to take a bit of better care of my overall health in 2013 because it helps me to do the other things I want to do.
(On the other hand, I'm also thinking about trying to play in an old boys' rugby match in Savannah in March, so "better care of my overall health" has some challenges right from the start. But aiming for a few old boy events each year keeps my overall motivation to stay in shape a lot higher than it would be otherwise, so it's still an overall plus. I'll just try not to bust anything this year.)
Writing
Random acts of poetry are hereby officially reinstated at the ol' Patio Boat blog. I had thought last year that I'd try writing and polishing a few poems and actually submitting them to some magazines, something I hadn't done in 20 years or so. In reality I wrote very little poetry last year. Part of that may be the aforementioned productivity decline. But I think a big part of that was the direct result of cutting off my primary publication outlet.
The truth is that although I published a few poems in magazines way back when, I was always much more the sort of poet who would noodle around with something, show a few friends, and then move on. So why fight it? If I write something fun or interesting, I'll post it up here. Hopefully that'll make me a bit more likely to write something fun or interesting this year.
Otherwise on the blog? Eh, I'll post something when I have something interesting to say. The Ol' Patio Boat blog remains what it has been pretty much from the start, a place for me to write down some thoughts and share them with those of you who are interested, mostly in the form of first-draft ramblings with dubious sentence structures. A more commercially viable blogger would've broken this melange into four or five discrete and well-edited posts. But you all just have to put up with this. Or not. Nobody's forcing you. Go watch a cat video on YouTube if you want. See if I care.
The Broadcast News Ban Grows
I want to personally thank the U.S. Congress for the monumental stupidity of the unending fiscal-cliff debacle in December. They finally got me to do what I probably should've done years ago: change the dial on my old clock-radio from our NPR news station to the classical music channel. And fortunately for my peace of mind this happened before the airwaves filled with unending details of school shootings.
I banished television news a few years ago, and I had pretty much banished radio news from the rest of my morning. The remaining holdover was waking up every morning to the headline news. In truth, it was a pretty effective wakeup call. Nothing will get you out of bed to turn off the radio faster than a terrible news story.
But it was also a pretty depressing way to wake up, and it was taking a toll on my psyche. I had begun to wake morning in despair about the world. Now I wake up to a random bit of symphony or concerto and generally think, "Gosh, how pretty." The downside is that it's a lot harder to actually wake up and get out of bed while lying in a warm bed and listening to lovely classical music. For now, I'll take that risk.
I've banned the radio news in the morning a few times before as part of a news ban. This time it feels more permanent. We shall see.
The MGB Slumbers
The Michigan roads are covered in salt during the wintertime, so my little MGB is tucked away under cover in the garage. Salty roads are the mortal enemy of rust-prone British sports cars. Alas, I'll have some work to do before all is ship-shape for the first Spring drive. Here's the current list:
The lighting and wiring woes continue -- There was good progress on this front last year, but my right rear taillight went out again during my final drive of the fall. I need to solve that. The poor little car has two problems, really. First, many of the connections are now 37 years old and worn, dirty, or corroded. Second, many of the newer connections made by previous owners weren't done properly. Hopefully cleaning and/or replacing some of those connectors will have the lights back in business.
Sigh. I know you all continue to be shocked that my old British sports car has electrical issues, but there it is.
The overdrive/wiper and turn-signal switches, plus the horn -- My overdrive switch slowly began failing last year, and is pretty much kaput. This makes me sad because the overdrive is a positive boon whenever I top 50 mph. To fix it, I'll need to take apart a bit of the steering column, which means that it might be an opportunity to also fix or replace my turn-signal switch (which doesn't turn off after the turn) and maybe even figure out how to make the regular horn button in the middle of the steering wheel work again. I love my A-OOGA horn, but it's not always convenient when large trucks bear down on me and I need to make a loud and joyous sound **NOW**.
The hole in the driver's seat -- Somehow last summer I tore a small hole in the leather seat. I tried covering it over with duct tape and managed to make it into a larger hole.
This is why I can't have nice things.
It needs fixing, and I'll probably need to find somebody who knows what she's doing, which means that I'll probably do best to take the seat out of the car and haul it over to Bev's Canvas Covers, which did a bang-up job replacing the zippers on my tonneau cover and did a great job on the seats for my neighbor's pontoon boat. Removing the seat to get its upholstery fixed has has another benefit. It would make it easier to work on the steering-wheel console, and it would probably also make it easier to ...
Install the shoulder belts -- The MGB currently just has lap belts. I did buy a new pair to install last summer, before I got distracted by the broken finger and the broken fuel pump and the electrical woes. The MGB is a relatively safe car for a tiny mid-70s convertible, but replacing those lap belts for actual shoulder harnesses is an important upgrade that would make me feel better about hauling people around in it.
Put it all together and it's a good-sized project list that I'd be more inclined to tackle if my garage wasn't 25 degrees. (Note to self: add "Build heated, insulated garage with more room" to the list of vital MGB repairs.)
All of this during the winter when I can't drive anyway makes me start to look at other cars and dream that they don't have their own list of issues -- as in, "Oooh, look at this pretty Jaguar convertible on eBay. The ad says everything works!" -- but really I'll be happy again with the FUN MG as soon as its warm enough to get back to work on it, which should be soon enough.
Alas, thanks to the ever-increasing pace of global warming, old British sports cars are an increasingly weather-appropriate choice in Michigan!
Politics
I'm focusing on village issues in 2013. Now that we've put the worst of the financial hardships behind us (Knock on wood!) we're in a good place to work in making Wolverine Lake the best community it can be. Besides, current national and state politics just make me despair for democracy and our republic. (Thus the aforementioned news ban!)
One of the things I've had some interest in doing is digging into some real statistical analysis of redistricting and the gerrymander. But that has begun to feel a bit to me like doing a tree count in the midst of a forest fire.
I could rant at length, and I'm sure I'll come back to write more about this eventually (fair warning!) but in the meantime let me pass along four things I've been thinking about that would help to restore some sanity to our badly broken political process. Each is worthy of a long post and discussion of its own, but I wanted to write them down somewhere before I turn my back in disgust, and the end of this long, rambling blog post to kick off the new year is as good a place as any:
1) Abolish the Electoral College -- This one's such an easy constitutional amendment that even a non-lawyer like me can write it: "The President and Vice-President shall be elected by a direct vote of the qualified voters."
2) Eliminate the Gerrymander -- I'm sure there's a good way to word the requirement. But what it means is that legislative districts should be drawn by non-partisan commissions to maximize compactness and to follow permanent political boundaries to the greatest extent possible.
3) Open primaries -- Primaries shall not be restricted to partisan races. They shall be open to all qualified candidates. The general election will consist of a runoff between the top two vote-getters in the primary.
4) Eliminate term-limits for the legislature -- This really only applies to Michigan or other states that have enacted legislative term limits. It might not be quite as useful as the first three, but the unending spectacle of an amateur hour in Lansing that's generally run by lobbyists has made me firmly believe that term limits for our legislature were a mistake.
And that's it. I'm out of lunchtime to write this post, and I'm sure I'm out of readers of this post by the time I'm typing this sentence. So if you doggedly made it to this paragraph let me just say, "Have a great 2013!"
Monday, January 9, 2012
What's in Store for Me in 2012, Part 2: The Patio Boat Blog
I'm sure some of you have noticed several political posts in a row and are thinking, "Where the heck is the beagle haiku that I have come to expect from the ol' Patio Boat?!" Worry not, this place isn't morphing into a full-time political blog. But you are likely to see a heftier dose of politics this year than in previous years.
When I started up the Patio Boat blog my only real intention was to put up a little place where I could update friends and family on what's happening in my life, and maybe have a little place where I could post up a bit of poetry on occasion. It's not a one-theme blog, nor is it intended to be a commercial blog. (But could it kill y'all to just occasionally click on an ad, huh? I've got an old British sports car to maintain.)
That first year I made a real effort to post on a near-daily basis. That was a good way to get into the blogging habit, but I found that I was also posting up stuff that would serve better as a Facebook update or even a tweet on Twitter.
If you want to read that sort of stuff, you can always friend me on Facebook, where you will be subjected to fairly regular status updates, the vast majority of which consist of telling you what I'm eating for lunch in my cube. You can also follow me on Twitter at @Patioboater. I tweet a genuine original thought once or twice a week, and usually retweet several things a week, usually cool weather and astronomy photos, links to interesting blog posts, and earth-shattering Weird Al Yankovic news. I try to keep a pretty high threshold on deciding what to retweet, so if I do retweet something, the odds are pretty good that it's something that I found to be genuinely cool, interesting, or funny.
Last year I decided to write an average one genuinely good blog post per week. Critics may say there weren't any genuinely good ones, but I think that sort of schedule benefited the blog. So, that's what I'll aim for again this year. In terms of blog content you will indeed be seeing more posts around politics this year than in previous years. When I started up the blog I declared politics to be one of the out-of-bounds topics because ... well, I'm a politician (albeit a minor-league one) and because I hate blogs that club you over the head with whatever agenda a politician is trying to push.
So, you're still not going to see those sorts of posts from me here. I'm sure I will occasionally discuss the presidential election, but am more likely to discuss the mechanics of the election more than anything else, as was the case with my last few posts on the topic. I might also occasionally touch on policy points as the year goes on, but when I do so I will try to make sure that whatever I post is supported by citations. Polite opposing opinions are always welcome, but I will certainly ask you to have your facts in order and supported by reasonably reliable sources. I have grown increasingly annoyed by a national political discussion that has spiraled far, far away from actual facts, and I'm not going to put up with it here. (So, there!)
What I really intend to concentrate on here are the mechanics of politics, especially the electoral process. As I mentioned in the previous post, I've taken an interest in trying to figure out how we can improve our current system in Michigan. There are a lot of differing proposals and options out there. I'd like to take a closer look at some of them. I find that it helps me to do so logically by writing about them, and as coincidence would have it I have a handy place to post just that sort of stuff. So you'll see some of that here as the year goes on.
On the beagle haiku front, as of today we occupy three of the top four slots on Google when you search on the phrase "beagle haiku". But we've been bumped out of the #1 slot. It's time to do something about this disgrace!
So, what I'll do is promise to write and post more beagle haiku. What I'd like you all to do is to post the link below somewhere, anywhere. It takes you to a results list of all the Patio Boat posts that were tagged with "Beagle haiku":
http://patioboat.blogspot.com/search/label/Beagle%20haiku
C'mon, America! We can do this! Let's reclaim the #1 spot!
Also on the haiku front, I am making a public offer to double Mary Campbell-Droze's fee as our Indianapolis Colts haiku correspondent. Hopefully, that will keep her and her contributions in the fold for another year, including an NFL draft special that will consist entirely of seventeen syllables dedicated to Andrew Luck.
On the non-haiku poetry front, you might see less of that this year, though I confess there wasn't a whole lot of poetry-writing last year, either. It's been about twenty years since I put any effort into having any of my poems published, but I decided that it might benefit my writing to brush a few of my efforts up to that level of scrutiny. So, that means that a few poems are likely to go out for a few rejection slips before they appear here. On the bright side, once I give up on getting a poem in a genuine physical magazine, you'll get to see it with a list of the magazines that found it unfit for publication. That should be fun.
And what else? Eh, the usual stuff. Look for a few posts on the MGB, the lake, home improvements, occasional photoblogging, or whatever strikes my fancy. After all, it's still just the ol' Patio Boat.
When I started up the Patio Boat blog my only real intention was to put up a little place where I could update friends and family on what's happening in my life, and maybe have a little place where I could post up a bit of poetry on occasion. It's not a one-theme blog, nor is it intended to be a commercial blog. (But could it kill y'all to just occasionally click on an ad, huh? I've got an old British sports car to maintain.)
That first year I made a real effort to post on a near-daily basis. That was a good way to get into the blogging habit, but I found that I was also posting up stuff that would serve better as a Facebook update or even a tweet on Twitter.
If you want to read that sort of stuff, you can always friend me on Facebook, where you will be subjected to fairly regular status updates, the vast majority of which consist of telling you what I'm eating for lunch in my cube. You can also follow me on Twitter at @Patioboater. I tweet a genuine original thought once or twice a week, and usually retweet several things a week, usually cool weather and astronomy photos, links to interesting blog posts, and earth-shattering Weird Al Yankovic news. I try to keep a pretty high threshold on deciding what to retweet, so if I do retweet something, the odds are pretty good that it's something that I found to be genuinely cool, interesting, or funny.
Last year I decided to write an average one genuinely good blog post per week. Critics may say there weren't any genuinely good ones, but I think that sort of schedule benefited the blog. So, that's what I'll aim for again this year. In terms of blog content you will indeed be seeing more posts around politics this year than in previous years. When I started up the blog I declared politics to be one of the out-of-bounds topics because ... well, I'm a politician (albeit a minor-league one) and because I hate blogs that club you over the head with whatever agenda a politician is trying to push.
So, you're still not going to see those sorts of posts from me here. I'm sure I will occasionally discuss the presidential election, but am more likely to discuss the mechanics of the election more than anything else, as was the case with my last few posts on the topic. I might also occasionally touch on policy points as the year goes on, but when I do so I will try to make sure that whatever I post is supported by citations. Polite opposing opinions are always welcome, but I will certainly ask you to have your facts in order and supported by reasonably reliable sources. I have grown increasingly annoyed by a national political discussion that has spiraled far, far away from actual facts, and I'm not going to put up with it here. (So, there!)
What I really intend to concentrate on here are the mechanics of politics, especially the electoral process. As I mentioned in the previous post, I've taken an interest in trying to figure out how we can improve our current system in Michigan. There are a lot of differing proposals and options out there. I'd like to take a closer look at some of them. I find that it helps me to do so logically by writing about them, and as coincidence would have it I have a handy place to post just that sort of stuff. So you'll see some of that here as the year goes on.
On the beagle haiku front, as of today we occupy three of the top four slots on Google when you search on the phrase "beagle haiku". But we've been bumped out of the #1 slot. It's time to do something about this disgrace!
So, what I'll do is promise to write and post more beagle haiku. What I'd like you all to do is to post the link below somewhere, anywhere. It takes you to a results list of all the Patio Boat posts that were tagged with "Beagle haiku":
http://patioboat.blogspot.com/search/label/Beagle%20haiku
C'mon, America! We can do this! Let's reclaim the #1 spot!
Also on the haiku front, I am making a public offer to double Mary Campbell-Droze's fee as our Indianapolis Colts haiku correspondent. Hopefully, that will keep her and her contributions in the fold for another year, including an NFL draft special that will consist entirely of seventeen syllables dedicated to Andrew Luck.
On the non-haiku poetry front, you might see less of that this year, though I confess there wasn't a whole lot of poetry-writing last year, either. It's been about twenty years since I put any effort into having any of my poems published, but I decided that it might benefit my writing to brush a few of my efforts up to that level of scrutiny. So, that means that a few poems are likely to go out for a few rejection slips before they appear here. On the bright side, once I give up on getting a poem in a genuine physical magazine, you'll get to see it with a list of the magazines that found it unfit for publication. That should be fun.
And what else? Eh, the usual stuff. Look for a few posts on the MGB, the lake, home improvements, occasional photoblogging, or whatever strikes my fancy. After all, it's still just the ol' Patio Boat.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Book Review: Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
As mentioned upstream, on the heels of watching the movie Julie & Julia, I came across a copy of the book Julie & Julia by Julie Powell at the annual used book sale at work. So I picked it up and gave it a read -- not just because I enjoy reading about horribly fattening foods, but also because I pretty much expected it to be a handy printout of the blog entries from her Julie/Julia Project.
The surprising thing for me was that it was much less a reprint of a year's worth of blogging about cooking all the recipes from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking than it was a personal memoir about the experience of blogging and cooking for a year. In that way, I suspect it made for a better read as a book ... less disjointed. Of course, it also made it a bit less immediate than a blog. We already know that she carries through with this whacky experiment, whereas her blog readers really had no idea.
The book itself was a quick, light read. Julie -- and you do feel you're on a first-name basis with her by the end -- does a good job of drawing you into the daily grind that made her try this crazy little experiment in the first place. And that makes it fun.
It also got me thinking about this wee little blog, which in its year-plus of existence has not developed thousands of followers, resulted in a flood of book advances, or inspired a movie. I do, however, have 27 fierce followers and I've already cornered the world Internet market on beagle haiku -- though I must admit that a near-monopoly on the world's supply of beagle haiku hasn't yet proven as lucrative as I hoped.
Frankly, that 27 of you have become regular followers is about 25 more than I expected. I kinda figured that Monique and my Mom would read it on occasion, and that I might acquire another reader or two for a post here or there. Now, if I post with any regularity I seem to get upwards of 50 or 60 hits a day, and there was a stretch there when I hit over 100 per day for a while.
To all of you I say this: click on the ads, will ya, people? Criminy, I blew the boat fund on the mortgage this Winter. I don't expect a movie with Meryl Streep, but there are Patio Boat repairs to be done. Help a brother out!
Oh, wait, did I type that into the blog and reveal my mercenary soul? ... Ah, the dangers of being a rather random stream-of-consciousness blogger. No matter, we press on. What I really meant to say was that I was thinking about was the different types of blogs there are out there. The Julie/Julia Project was a pretty good "stunt blog." It was a day-by-day recounting of a specific project with a goal and a timeline. In that way it kind of reminds me of another classic of the early days of blogging, The FAT Project: Who Can Gain 30 Pounds in 30 Days? from the Spark.com, back in 2000 when it was a fun read. (i.e. Before Barnes & Noble bought it.)
In fact, when I look at all the truly traffic-drawing blogs, they tend to have a genuine focus of some sort, whether it's food, politics, or even the cast of characters you can find over at the Gettysburg Family. (As long as I'm being bossy, go click on some of Susan's ads, too. Raising four kids is almost as expensive as having a decrepit old pontoon boat.)
And so, I thought I'd take a look back at the last fifteen months of blogs here, to see what this blog is about. And you know what? When I go back and sample the 364 posts here, they have a genuinely astonishing erratic lack of focus. Heck, even beagle haiku only account for a mere 18.4% of the total!
Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is obviously the erratic output of an erratic mind.
And so be it. I started this little thing up to do a better job of updating my friends & family about what I've been up to here in Michigan. And I think it's worked out pretty well in that regard. I also thought it might be good to get me back in the habit of daily ... well, near-daily writing. And its done that, too, despite a few dry spells. I'm pleased with how it's worked out for me.
But I do sometimes wonder ... how is this working for you, my readers?
Let me know if there's something you'd like to see more of. Or less of. Or whatever. I probably won't change or improve a thing. But I am kinda curious.
(Oh, and since this was really meant to be a book review, let's wrap it up as such.)
Summary: A fun read, whether you're interested in blogging, French cooking, or just tales of life in New York City.
Amazon: Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen (Hardcover); Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously (Paperback). (I read the paperback, which has a bit of an update at the end.)
The surprising thing for me was that it was much less a reprint of a year's worth of blogging about cooking all the recipes from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking than it was a personal memoir about the experience of blogging and cooking for a year. In that way, I suspect it made for a better read as a book ... less disjointed. Of course, it also made it a bit less immediate than a blog. We already know that she carries through with this whacky experiment, whereas her blog readers really had no idea.
The book itself was a quick, light read. Julie -- and you do feel you're on a first-name basis with her by the end -- does a good job of drawing you into the daily grind that made her try this crazy little experiment in the first place. And that makes it fun.
It also got me thinking about this wee little blog, which in its year-plus of existence has not developed thousands of followers, resulted in a flood of book advances, or inspired a movie. I do, however, have 27 fierce followers and I've already cornered the world Internet market on beagle haiku -- though I must admit that a near-monopoly on the world's supply of beagle haiku hasn't yet proven as lucrative as I hoped.
Frankly, that 27 of you have become regular followers is about 25 more than I expected. I kinda figured that Monique and my Mom would read it on occasion, and that I might acquire another reader or two for a post here or there. Now, if I post with any regularity I seem to get upwards of 50 or 60 hits a day, and there was a stretch there when I hit over 100 per day for a while.
To all of you I say this: click on the ads, will ya, people? Criminy, I blew the boat fund on the mortgage this Winter. I don't expect a movie with Meryl Streep, but there are Patio Boat repairs to be done. Help a brother out!
Oh, wait, did I type that into the blog and reveal my mercenary soul? ... Ah, the dangers of being a rather random stream-of-consciousness blogger. No matter, we press on. What I really meant to say was that I was thinking about was the different types of blogs there are out there. The Julie/Julia Project was a pretty good "stunt blog." It was a day-by-day recounting of a specific project with a goal and a timeline. In that way it kind of reminds me of another classic of the early days of blogging, The FAT Project: Who Can Gain 30 Pounds in 30 Days? from the Spark.com, back in 2000 when it was a fun read. (i.e. Before Barnes & Noble bought it.)
In fact, when I look at all the truly traffic-drawing blogs, they tend to have a genuine focus of some sort, whether it's food, politics, or even the cast of characters you can find over at the Gettysburg Family. (As long as I'm being bossy, go click on some of Susan's ads, too. Raising four kids is almost as expensive as having a decrepit old pontoon boat.)
And so, I thought I'd take a look back at the last fifteen months of blogs here, to see what this blog is about. And you know what? When I go back and sample the 364 posts here, they have a genuinely astonishing erratic lack of focus. Heck, even beagle haiku only account for a mere 18.4% of the total!
Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is obviously the erratic output of an erratic mind.
And so be it. I started this little thing up to do a better job of updating my friends & family about what I've been up to here in Michigan. And I think it's worked out pretty well in that regard. I also thought it might be good to get me back in the habit of daily ... well, near-daily writing. And its done that, too, despite a few dry spells. I'm pleased with how it's worked out for me.
But I do sometimes wonder ... how is this working for you, my readers?
Let me know if there's something you'd like to see more of. Or less of. Or whatever. I probably won't change or improve a thing. But I am kinda curious.
(Oh, and since this was really meant to be a book review, let's wrap it up as such.)
Summary: A fun read, whether you're interested in blogging, French cooking, or just tales of life in New York City.
Amazon: Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen (Hardcover); Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously (Paperback). (I read the paperback, which has a bit of an update at the end.)
Saturday, January 9, 2010
The 2010 Book List; Review of The Big Four by Agatha Christie (1927)
You may or may not have noticed that a new wee box has shown up at the bottom of the left-hand column of the blog, the "2010 Book Reading List." This was something that Arsen suggested, in part because he's trying to figure out what readers read. I thought it was a pretty good idea, and might be fun though I fear it will just let the cat out of the bag that my general reading list lacks literary heft and is instead mostly a bunch of old mysteries and sci-fi novels.
I'll also try to throw a quick review for the books as I finish them, and in that spirit, here's my review of...
The Big Four by Agatha Christie (1927)
One of my current reading projects is to read the Hercule Poiroit mysteries by Agatha Christie in more-or-less the order in which they were released. It's been a lot of fun because -- not surprisingly -- some of these books are really great mysteries since the Poirot mysteries include titles such as Murder on the Links, The Death of Roger Ackroyd, and Murder on the Orient Express.
The Big Four has something in common with those mystery greats. It also contains a protagonist named Hercule Poirot. It's one of the earlier books, and is kind of a weird read. It's as if Agatha Christie read a Doc Savage novel and decided that Hercule Poirot should also travel internationally taking on a vast shadowy syndicate of evil led by criminal masterminds. Not surprisingly, it reads kind of like a Doc Savage novel, if Doc Savage were a short old Belgian dude with a big moustache.
This is not a good thing.
The plot itself is more a series of small mysteries than a single complex mystery. In fact, it reads a bit as if Christie took some Poirot short stories, slapped a supercriminal syndicate led by "The Big Four" on it, and called it a novel. It really doesn't hang together as a coherent plot. But some of those smaller mysteries make for pretty good set-piece mysteries.
It's far from a great Poirot novel. But there are some pretty good bits with Hastings, and some of the smaller mysteries are good if you ignore the vast flaws in the overall logic of the plot. So, if you've read a lot of the Poirot novels and are looking for some Poirot short stories that you haven't come across, you might give this one a try.
Summary: Strictly for Poirot compleatists.
Amazon: The Big Four
Where and How Acquired: Used, from John K. King Books.
I'll also try to throw a quick review for the books as I finish them, and in that spirit, here's my review of...
The Big Four by Agatha Christie (1927)
One of my current reading projects is to read the Hercule Poiroit mysteries by Agatha Christie in more-or-less the order in which they were released. It's been a lot of fun because -- not surprisingly -- some of these books are really great mysteries since the Poirot mysteries include titles such as Murder on the Links, The Death of Roger Ackroyd, and Murder on the Orient Express.
The Big Four has something in common with those mystery greats. It also contains a protagonist named Hercule Poirot. It's one of the earlier books, and is kind of a weird read. It's as if Agatha Christie read a Doc Savage novel and decided that Hercule Poirot should also travel internationally taking on a vast shadowy syndicate of evil led by criminal masterminds. Not surprisingly, it reads kind of like a Doc Savage novel, if Doc Savage were a short old Belgian dude with a big moustache.
This is not a good thing.
The plot itself is more a series of small mysteries than a single complex mystery. In fact, it reads a bit as if Christie took some Poirot short stories, slapped a supercriminal syndicate led by "The Big Four" on it, and called it a novel. It really doesn't hang together as a coherent plot. But some of those smaller mysteries make for pretty good set-piece mysteries.
It's far from a great Poirot novel. But there are some pretty good bits with Hastings, and some of the smaller mysteries are good if you ignore the vast flaws in the overall logic of the plot. So, if you've read a lot of the Poirot novels and are looking for some Poirot short stories that you haven't come across, you might give this one a try.
Summary: Strictly for Poirot compleatists.
Amazon: The Big Four
Where and How Acquired: Used, from John K. King Books.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Facebook vs. The Blog
I came across a post (Facebook, Twitter, and so forth) on Sailor Jim's blog (Sailor Jim; Storyteller 2.0) in which he discussed the fact that he recently joined Facebook but finds the hubbub of it all less appealing than blogging. He uses a pretty good metaphor for the two:
It seems to me that the Facebook / Twitter model is that of a large room, full of people saying things at random as it occurs to them, each with several other people standing there commenting on whatever random thing was said, whereas blogs are more like one person on a stage with a mic, standing in front of an audience. After they get done with their performance, someone out of the audience takes their place and does a turn, while various critics still in the audience write reviews of and suggestions for the performance they just watched.
I thought it was an interesting metaphor, and I wrote a few comments on his entry to try to extend his metaphor to explain why I see the two mediums as complements to one another, not competitors. Then I reckoned I'd copy them here, which just goes to show that self-plagiarism spans all technologies. Here's what I had to say:
Just think of the blog as the stage, and Facebook as just all the folks out there at the tables chit-chatting with each other and not paying too much attention to the stage, the bar, the wait staff or really anything other than their Farmville farms. There's no need for performance pressure on FB; it's just a place to chit-chat.
Then sometimes a good act comes on stage and people pay attention for a while.
I tend to use FB as a place to keep track of my family and friends, and I reckon the ante is that I pony up a status update when I check in. (Thus the hundred-plus "lunchin' in the cube" updates I've posted in the last year.) No pressure, just a quick sentence on whatever comes to mind.
That my seem like it's filling the Internet with trivia ... er, more trivia ... but really getting to know somebody over time involves knowing both the important stuff (got married, got a new job, had a kid, etc.) and the little things. And since my family members live all over the place, what I like most about FB is that I feel I have a much better sense of the little things in their lives. For example, I would have known that one of my brothers travelled to Norway for work recently, but I wouldn't have known that he was really thinking about buying a viking hat while he was there. That sort of stuff.
I tend to use my blog as a place to write out my longer, more coherent thoughts on things. And every now and then when there's something there that I think might be of general interest, I link to it from my FB account.
It seems to me that the Facebook / Twitter model is that of a large room, full of people saying things at random as it occurs to them, each with several other people standing there commenting on whatever random thing was said, whereas blogs are more like one person on a stage with a mic, standing in front of an audience. After they get done with their performance, someone out of the audience takes their place and does a turn, while various critics still in the audience write reviews of and suggestions for the performance they just watched.
I thought it was an interesting metaphor, and I wrote a few comments on his entry to try to extend his metaphor to explain why I see the two mediums as complements to one another, not competitors. Then I reckoned I'd copy them here, which just goes to show that self-plagiarism spans all technologies. Here's what I had to say:
Just think of the blog as the stage, and Facebook as just all the folks out there at the tables chit-chatting with each other and not paying too much attention to the stage, the bar, the wait staff or really anything other than their Farmville farms. There's no need for performance pressure on FB; it's just a place to chit-chat.
Then sometimes a good act comes on stage and people pay attention for a while.
I tend to use FB as a place to keep track of my family and friends, and I reckon the ante is that I pony up a status update when I check in. (Thus the hundred-plus "lunchin' in the cube" updates I've posted in the last year.) No pressure, just a quick sentence on whatever comes to mind.
That my seem like it's filling the Internet with trivia ... er, more trivia ... but really getting to know somebody over time involves knowing both the important stuff (got married, got a new job, had a kid, etc.) and the little things. And since my family members live all over the place, what I like most about FB is that I feel I have a much better sense of the little things in their lives. For example, I would have known that one of my brothers travelled to Norway for work recently, but I wouldn't have known that he was really thinking about buying a viking hat while he was there. That sort of stuff.
I tend to use my blog as a place to write out my longer, more coherent thoughts on things. And every now and then when there's something there that I think might be of general interest, I link to it from my FB account.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Quick Note On Saving Images from this Blog.
You or anybody else reading this blog can save the full-sized versions of any of the photos in this blog. (My Mom asked a question about getting some photos e-mailed to her, so in the spirit of teaching her to fish instead of e-mailing her fish, I thought I'd explain how it's done.)
If you want to download *any* of the pictures on this blog, all you have to do is to right-click on the picture, choose "Save Target As", and you can save the photo wherever you want. You'll get the full-size photo.
You can also click on the photo itself, and then when the page that you click to -- which only contains the full photo -- has loaded, you can right-click and choose "Save Picture As", and save the picture.
BTW, if you right-click on the photo shown on the full blog entry and choose "Save Picture As", you'll get the smaller version on that page.
Happy photos, everybody!
If you want to download *any* of the pictures on this blog, all you have to do is to right-click on the picture, choose "Save Target As", and you can save the photo wherever you want. You'll get the full-size photo.
You can also click on the photo itself, and then when the page that you click to -- which only contains the full photo -- has loaded, you can right-click and choose "Save Picture As", and save the picture.
BTW, if you right-click on the photo shown on the full blog entry and choose "Save Picture As", you'll get the smaller version on that page.
Happy photos, everybody!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Continuing Effort to Dominate the Global Beagle-Haiku Market
I got an interesting note from a search engine called Feedmil.com yesterday. It seems to be aimed at searching frequently-updated sites like blogs, newswire feeds, etc. Anyway, they asked me to send along a description, and this is what I came up with:
"A sorta-daily journal for friends, family, and anybody who enjoys a good beagle haiku. Or a bad beagle haiku. The point is that (unless Katie the Beagle gets distracted by a butterfly or something stinky to roll in) we aim to dominate the world beagle haiku market, and nobody better stand in our way. Especially not a rabbit."
And, lo-and-behold, we are indeed their number one result for a search on "Beagle Haiku". (Take that, Google!) I'm curious to see how long it takes this post to make it into their engine, so I'll check a few times during today, to see when this item popped up in their engine, and report back on what I find.
In the meantime, their engine also seems to work on a "popularity" metric, so if you do stop by their site, please cast a vote for the quality of the ol' Patio Boat. Your beagle-haiku-generating Patio Boat staff thanks you!
"A sorta-daily journal for friends, family, and anybody who enjoys a good beagle haiku. Or a bad beagle haiku. The point is that (unless Katie the Beagle gets distracted by a butterfly or something stinky to roll in) we aim to dominate the world beagle haiku market, and nobody better stand in our way. Especially not a rabbit."
And, lo-and-behold, we are indeed their number one result for a search on "Beagle Haiku". (Take that, Google!) I'm curious to see how long it takes this post to make it into their engine, so I'll check a few times during today, to see when this item popped up in their engine, and report back on what I find.
In the meantime, their engine also seems to work on a "popularity" metric, so if you do stop by their site, please cast a vote for the quality of the ol' Patio Boat. Your beagle-haiku-generating Patio Boat staff thanks you!
Friday, July 10, 2009
We're #1! We're #1!
If you type the phrase "beagle haiku" into Google, these are now your top two results:
Results 1 - 10 of about 85,900 for beagle haiku. (0.13 seconds)
Patio Boat - 2 visits - May 15
The Stinkiest Haiku. Katie the Beagle, Meet the skunk. Mr. Skunk, meet. Katie the Beagle. We all coulda done without that introduction at 1 am. ...patioboat.blogspot.com/ - Cached - Similar -
Patio Boat: Bonus Beagle Haiku - Jun 27
Bonus Beagle Haiku. Oh heck, have a haiku about Katie the Beagle anyway: Katie the Beagle Hiding in a beach towel. The trauma? A bath! ...patioboat.blogspot.com/2009/04/bonus-beagle-haiku.html - Cached - Similar -More results from patioboat.blogspot.com »
Patio Boat is now the world leader in beagle haiku. We'd like to thank all of you for your contributions to this achievement, especially the skunk who launched the haiku that put us over the top.
Results 1 - 10 of about 85,900 for beagle haiku. (0.13 seconds)
Patio Boat - 2 visits - May 15
The Stinkiest Haiku. Katie the Beagle, Meet the skunk. Mr. Skunk, meet. Katie the Beagle. We all coulda done without that introduction at 1 am. ...patioboat.blogspot.com/ - Cached - Similar -
Patio Boat: Bonus Beagle Haiku - Jun 27
Bonus Beagle Haiku. Oh heck, have a haiku about Katie the Beagle anyway: Katie the Beagle Hiding in a beach towel. The trauma? A bath! ...patioboat.blogspot.com/2009/04/bonus-beagle-haiku.html - Cached - Similar -More results from patioboat.blogspot.com »
Patio Boat is now the world leader in beagle haiku. We'd like to thank all of you for your contributions to this achievement, especially the skunk who launched the haiku that put us over the top.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Look at me! Look at me! Or not?
I read an interesting article in yesterday's NY Times business section about some newly released video-editing software that can be used to significantly sharpen the images in home videos: Those Big Bright Eyes May Soon Be Brighter.
The software itself is interesting, but I was particularly struck by this little quote towards the bottom of the article (bolding mine):
Jon Peddie, who heads Jon Peddie Research, a consulting firm in Tiburon, Calif., said specialized software like vReveal might prove popular with consumers as more of them create and post videos.
“There’s a huge potential market for products like this,” Mr. Peddie said. “If two of us are at the same soccer game, each photographing it with a cheap camera, but I do some enhancing afterward,” that video will look better and get more views.
It kinda struck me that "get more views" would've been the last goal I would have thought mattered in improving the video of some kid's soccer game because who's going to watch this thing other than Grandma and Grandpa? So, I would've assumed the goal would be, "Will look better when a small handful of family members watch it." (And I rather suspect that would be the genuine goal of most people who would buy the software.)
But there really is a certain aspect of "Look at me!" to all of this for those of us who post various items on the Internet, especially in formats such as blogs, YouTube, and Twitter. And I'm occasionally struck by the widespread notion that the true and absolute measure of online value is the number of hits that an item receives.
To some extent I understand that this is an extension of business drivers for Web-based businesses. For them, "more hits" really does equal "more money". But what about for the rest of us?
I do this little blog as a fun way of updating my friends and family on what I'm up to and what's on my mind. So I do expect a certain amount of traffic from a couple dozen people, and would probably be a bit saddened if nobody ever read it or commented and I didn't muster up my 20 or so hits per day. And it certainly isn't inconceivable that an occasional visitor from somewhere outside that circle might stumble across it, as happened when I insulted Mark Rothko's paintings.
Heck, if I post something here that I think folks might enjoy, I even throw a link up on Facebook, where it can be seen by my ever-growing list of Facebook friends, now up to an astounding 218 people. But all-in-all, I don't think that I'm competing with anybody else for "more views" of this blog.
So does that mean that I don't care about "building an audience" for this little blog? Or just that I'm only trying to build a selected audience?
I'm not really sure what I'd blog about if I was trying to build a lot of traffic, but I would assume it would mean fewer beagle haikus, so the heck with that idea. Let nobody doubt that this is the Internet's #1 source for Katie the Beagle poems (which gives rather a whole new sense to the concept of "the long tail" of online content, now that I think about it.)
But I can't help but wonder if I'm missing some basic point when I find myself at such genuine odds with underlying assumptions that seem to be shared so many people. Should I be trying to build an audience? If so, to what end?
I dunno, my loyal "Followers" what do you all think?
The software itself is interesting, but I was particularly struck by this little quote towards the bottom of the article (bolding mine):
Jon Peddie, who heads Jon Peddie Research, a consulting firm in Tiburon, Calif., said specialized software like vReveal might prove popular with consumers as more of them create and post videos.
“There’s a huge potential market for products like this,” Mr. Peddie said. “If two of us are at the same soccer game, each photographing it with a cheap camera, but I do some enhancing afterward,” that video will look better and get more views.
It kinda struck me that "get more views" would've been the last goal I would have thought mattered in improving the video of some kid's soccer game because who's going to watch this thing other than Grandma and Grandpa? So, I would've assumed the goal would be, "Will look better when a small handful of family members watch it." (And I rather suspect that would be the genuine goal of most people who would buy the software.)
But there really is a certain aspect of "Look at me!" to all of this for those of us who post various items on the Internet, especially in formats such as blogs, YouTube, and Twitter. And I'm occasionally struck by the widespread notion that the true and absolute measure of online value is the number of hits that an item receives.
To some extent I understand that this is an extension of business drivers for Web-based businesses. For them, "more hits" really does equal "more money". But what about for the rest of us?
I do this little blog as a fun way of updating my friends and family on what I'm up to and what's on my mind. So I do expect a certain amount of traffic from a couple dozen people, and would probably be a bit saddened if nobody ever read it or commented and I didn't muster up my 20 or so hits per day. And it certainly isn't inconceivable that an occasional visitor from somewhere outside that circle might stumble across it, as happened when I insulted Mark Rothko's paintings.
Heck, if I post something here that I think folks might enjoy, I even throw a link up on Facebook, where it can be seen by my ever-growing list of Facebook friends, now up to an astounding 218 people. But all-in-all, I don't think that I'm competing with anybody else for "more views" of this blog.
So does that mean that I don't care about "building an audience" for this little blog? Or just that I'm only trying to build a selected audience?
I'm not really sure what I'd blog about if I was trying to build a lot of traffic, but I would assume it would mean fewer beagle haikus, so the heck with that idea. Let nobody doubt that this is the Internet's #1 source for Katie the Beagle poems (which gives rather a whole new sense to the concept of "the long tail" of online content, now that I think about it.)
But I can't help but wonder if I'm missing some basic point when I find myself at such genuine odds with underlying assumptions that seem to be shared so many people. Should I be trying to build an audience? If so, to what end?
I dunno, my loyal "Followers" what do you all think?
Monday, February 2, 2009
I don't write anymore...
... or so it seems to me, since once upon a time I thought of writing as "writing coherent and complete short stories, poems, essays, news articles, etc." However, the truth is that I write a ton. At one point today I noticed that I had already completed my 18th e-mail reply, the second draft of a fact sheet for a village thing, a reply to a previous post in here, and the fourth draft of a spec for a work project. Oh, and during lunch I wrote up several one- or two-paragraph replies and comments on discussion threads over on my favorite fantasy baseball web site.
Some days it seems that all I do is meet and type for ten or twelve hours at a stretch. If you added up all the words that I type in a day you would probably find that word-for-word I am more prolific than Isaac Asimov and Stephen King combined. But it is true that I hardly do any of the sort of more artistic, focused writing that I once did.
Instead, I prolifically pontificate on a preponderance of platforms.
One of the little things I hope to get out of this blog is to re-establish a little writing discipline in my life. To get back in the habit of writing consistently every day in the same place. Discipline is kind of like exercise. Easy enough to maintain when you're in the habit, but a bear to start back up again once you've let it slide too far. And I am indeed an ill-disciplined writer these days.
Some days it seems that all I do is meet and type for ten or twelve hours at a stretch. If you added up all the words that I type in a day you would probably find that word-for-word I am more prolific than Isaac Asimov and Stephen King combined. But it is true that I hardly do any of the sort of more artistic, focused writing that I once did.
Instead, I prolifically pontificate on a preponderance of platforms.
One of the little things I hope to get out of this blog is to re-establish a little writing discipline in my life. To get back in the habit of writing consistently every day in the same place. Discipline is kind of like exercise. Easy enough to maintain when you're in the habit, but a bear to start back up again once you've let it slide too far. And I am indeed an ill-disciplined writer these days.
Friday, January 30, 2009
The Crew Slowly Grows
Oooh, now I'm up to *six* followers. Events have already overtaken my last post.
Everybody please squeeze in a bit and make some room on the Patio Boat for Mr. Jim Stoy. I'll stir up another batch of Kool-Aid.
No, no, Jim. You can't sit next to Baby Huey. Putting you two big fellas on the same side of the boat will capsize us all!
Everybody please squeeze in a bit and make some room on the Patio Boat for Mr. Jim Stoy. I'll stir up another batch of Kool-Aid.
No, no, Jim. You can't sit next to Baby Huey. Putting you two big fellas on the same side of the boat will capsize us all!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Continuing Adventures and Inspirations of Magee 2.0
My little venture into the world of social networking has so far proven to be more social than I expected. I now have five "followers" of my blog. I wonder if Jim Jones started this way? How committed are my followers? If I hand over a cup of Kool-Aid are you still sniffing it first?
Let me know how you think it's going, oh followers of mine. I really have no idea what I'm doing here, mostly just trying to type up a little something every day. At least I know a few intrepid souls who have gone before me. I guess if I had to list my three biggest blogging role models they would be:
Sailor Jim Johnston -- I first came across Sailor Jim via alt.callahans on Google. Alt.callahans is a Usenet group based on the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon books by Sailor Jim, and it was once upon a time one of the largest groups on Usenet, back in the early proto-days of the Internet. His current blog is titled Sailor Jim; Storyteller. I'll probably put together a full post or two on Sailor Jim and some of his writings, but for now suffice it to say that I like his stories and his writing enough to have contributed the index for his book Naked Through the Snow; and other bits of silliness in exchange for three free copies. If there's a style of any sort emerging on here, it's probably some reflection of Jim's blog because that's the guy I've been reading the longest.
(BTW, one of the customer reviews of his book on Amazon.com said, "And don't forget to read the index." That may actually be the peak of my professional acclaim as an indexer. Nobody ever recommends reading an index, but I tried to make an index suitable for that eminently readable book, and I reckon I may have succeeded.)
Ryan Claytor -- Ryan has done a series of autobiographical comic books called And Then One Day. It's taken a couple of different forms over the last four or five years. One of the interesting things about it is that a couple of the more recent volumes were part of his MFA project in which he studied the nature of autobiographical comics. His stuff made me do some real thinking about the nature of autobiography, which was also interesting thing to think about in terms of how it applied to blogging.
I happened to pick up one of his original And Then One Day comics at my local comic shop because it had a fuzzy cover (really) and was for sale for only a couple of bucks and was hooked. Ryan just moved out to Lansing, Michigan, from California. I met him at a comic talk in December and he seemed okay with the Winter, so I think I'll have to get in touch with him again and see how he's holding up now that we're headed into February.
His work is now on display in an exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, and I certainly plan to check it out while Monique and I are out there next month.
Gettysburg Mom -- That's right, my very own little sister Susan Magee Riordan, whose blog is called Gettsyburg Family. She started up her blog at some point early last year or maybe in 2007, and I quickly came to appreciate what a great tool it was for letting me keep in much closer touch with what was going on with her family. She also writes on of the most consistently entertaining blogs on the net, and I'm not just saying that because she posts cute photos of my nephew and nieces. If you haven't read her blog, check it out. She was the true inspiration for me starting a blog of my very own.
Also on the social networking front, I'm also now up to 117 friends on Facebook. Honestly, I figured I might eventually get up to a couple of dozen at some point this Spring once I got around to tracking down various family members and the Meisner for Treasurer crew. And it's been fun, too. At least half of the folks on that list have tracked me down. How they figured out that I was now on Facebook is a bit beyond me, but what the heck. It's been a lot of fun. I've heard from a few people that I haven't heard from in years, and that part's been really great.
Speaking of my ever-growing friend list, I also had a friend request this week from somebody whose name I didn't recognize at all, and who didn't seem to have any common friends with me. So I've sent back a note asking him who the heck he is. I'm happy enough to friend anybody on Facebook, but mostly I'm just curious. Who are you, Peter Ferrara, and why do you want to be my friend? You already have 14 friends and I don't recognize any of them. On the other hand, when I consider the vast number of people that I have known over the years, it would hardly be surprising if a few slipped past my initial memory filters.
Boy, am I gonna be embarrassed if it turns out that Peter Ferrara pulled me out of a collapsed coal mine and then donated two pints of blood to keep me alive ... and I've gone and forgotten the entire incident!
Let me know how you think it's going, oh followers of mine. I really have no idea what I'm doing here, mostly just trying to type up a little something every day. At least I know a few intrepid souls who have gone before me. I guess if I had to list my three biggest blogging role models they would be:
Sailor Jim Johnston -- I first came across Sailor Jim via alt.callahans on Google. Alt.callahans is a Usenet group based on the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon books by Sailor Jim, and it was once upon a time one of the largest groups on Usenet, back in the early proto-days of the Internet. His current blog is titled Sailor Jim; Storyteller. I'll probably put together a full post or two on Sailor Jim and some of his writings, but for now suffice it to say that I like his stories and his writing enough to have contributed the index for his book Naked Through the Snow; and other bits of silliness in exchange for three free copies. If there's a style of any sort emerging on here, it's probably some reflection of Jim's blog because that's the guy I've been reading the longest.
(BTW, one of the customer reviews of his book on Amazon.com said, "And don't forget to read the index." That may actually be the peak of my professional acclaim as an indexer. Nobody ever recommends reading an index, but I tried to make an index suitable for that eminently readable book, and I reckon I may have succeeded.)
Ryan Claytor -- Ryan has done a series of autobiographical comic books called And Then One Day. It's taken a couple of different forms over the last four or five years. One of the interesting things about it is that a couple of the more recent volumes were part of his MFA project in which he studied the nature of autobiographical comics. His stuff made me do some real thinking about the nature of autobiography, which was also interesting thing to think about in terms of how it applied to blogging.
I happened to pick up one of his original And Then One Day comics at my local comic shop because it had a fuzzy cover (really) and was for sale for only a couple of bucks and was hooked. Ryan just moved out to Lansing, Michigan, from California. I met him at a comic talk in December and he seemed okay with the Winter, so I think I'll have to get in touch with him again and see how he's holding up now that we're headed into February.
His work is now on display in an exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, and I certainly plan to check it out while Monique and I are out there next month.
Gettysburg Mom -- That's right, my very own little sister Susan Magee Riordan, whose blog is called Gettsyburg Family. She started up her blog at some point early last year or maybe in 2007, and I quickly came to appreciate what a great tool it was for letting me keep in much closer touch with what was going on with her family. She also writes on of the most consistently entertaining blogs on the net, and I'm not just saying that because she posts cute photos of my nephew and nieces. If you haven't read her blog, check it out. She was the true inspiration for me starting a blog of my very own.
Also on the social networking front, I'm also now up to 117 friends on Facebook. Honestly, I figured I might eventually get up to a couple of dozen at some point this Spring once I got around to tracking down various family members and the Meisner for Treasurer crew. And it's been fun, too. At least half of the folks on that list have tracked me down. How they figured out that I was now on Facebook is a bit beyond me, but what the heck. It's been a lot of fun. I've heard from a few people that I haven't heard from in years, and that part's been really great.
Speaking of my ever-growing friend list, I also had a friend request this week from somebody whose name I didn't recognize at all, and who didn't seem to have any common friends with me. So I've sent back a note asking him who the heck he is. I'm happy enough to friend anybody on Facebook, but mostly I'm just curious. Who are you, Peter Ferrara, and why do you want to be my friend? You already have 14 friends and I don't recognize any of them. On the other hand, when I consider the vast number of people that I have known over the years, it would hardly be surprising if a few slipped past my initial memory filters.
Boy, am I gonna be embarrassed if it turns out that Peter Ferrara pulled me out of a collapsed coal mine and then donated two pints of blood to keep me alive ... and I've gone and forgotten the entire incident!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Because I said so, that's why
And now, a question from my Mom:
Question: I'm not sure, John, why you're keeping political comments off your blog. You generally have interesting opinions. I would much rather have read some of your observations on the innauguration the other day than the item about your lunch.
Short Answer: ‘Cause I don’t wanna.*
Long Answer: There are a lot of reasons, let me list a few:
1) Because I am a public official and this is a public forum. Essentially, whenever a politician (no matter how low on the totem pole) makes public comments about politics, it usually comes off as either self-serving or as the repetition of entrenched talking points. I found that when I adopted my year-in-review summary that I felt obliged to remove a couple of comments from the e-mail in which it originated. I don't want to go through a continuous process of self-censorship as I write this thing because it is in some ways an experiment in autobiography. (Heck, I don't even want to proofread these posts, as I'm sure my eagle-eyed readers have already noticed.) You may have only gotten my thoughts on eating lunch in my cube, but rest assured those were my uncensored thoughts on eating lunch in my cube.
2) Because genuine political thought and discourse is complicated and requires a commonly understood frame of reference. Putting together items on that level takes a lot of time and effort, which is why the Internet is full of people calling each other names and attacking each other's positions without much effort to understand why the other person is saying what they're saying. And a blog isn't a good format for that sort of thought, unless it's genuinely dedicated to political thought, in which case it has enough time to develop a full framework and context around specific items. I'm not trying to build a political framework here, I'm just capturing a few random thoughts in words.
3) Because I already have more than enough opportunity in other venues to discuss my opinions on matters of both local and national politics. I also have more than enough opportunity in other venues to have my opinions on matters of both local and national politics ignored by people who aren't really listening, but just want to make their own points. Just because I won't be blogging about it doesn't necessarily mean that I won't be thinking about it or even possibly writing an e-mail about it.
4) Because I'm mostly doing this for fun as something other than work or politics, which already take up a big chunk of my time.
5) Because I'm likely to occasionally comment on aspects of politics, anyway, despite items 1-4. For example, I'm sure that I'll put together a post on the fact that our village is honoring Jim Donahue and Gene Matkowski for their years and years of service on our village's water board. That'll be a political post, but hopefully it will discuss something not obvious in politics and something that isn't being discussed elsewhere on 100,000 political blogs. I guess another way of saying that is that I didn't have anything particularly new to add to the public discussion of the inauguration or the election.
*6) Because I flat-out stole the short-answer bit at the top of this post from Ryan Claytor's FAQs at his Elephant Eater Comics site. I put it to you, gentle reader, would you trust political commentary from a blogger who steals his best bits from Ryan? I also put it to you all that you should go over to Ryan's site and order "The Collected And Then One Day - Vol 1" which is really a much more entertaining and insightful read that this long bit of metablogging. Plus, I won't feel guilty about stealing Ryan's comment if somebody buys a copy of his entirely excellent book.
7) Because Patioboater and Patio Boat Blog (TM) reserve the right to change any of the rules they've made up about this blog at any moment. We're just winging it, folks.
(Offer to keep my commentating nose out of politics may not be valid in your state or metropolitan area. Consult with your attorney for full details. Side effects include indigestion, insomnia, inflammation of the lower extremities, and the heartbreak of psoriasis. Please consult your doctor of political science before taking Patio Boat Blog political comments internally.)
P.S. That "public forum" bit up in #1 is also why I probably won't post much in the way of specifics about my job in here, either. The word "Dooce" has meaning to me!
Question: I'm not sure, John, why you're keeping political comments off your blog. You generally have interesting opinions. I would much rather have read some of your observations on the innauguration the other day than the item about your lunch.
Short Answer: ‘Cause I don’t wanna.*
Long Answer: There are a lot of reasons, let me list a few:
1) Because I am a public official and this is a public forum. Essentially, whenever a politician (no matter how low on the totem pole) makes public comments about politics, it usually comes off as either self-serving or as the repetition of entrenched talking points. I found that when I adopted my year-in-review summary that I felt obliged to remove a couple of comments from the e-mail in which it originated. I don't want to go through a continuous process of self-censorship as I write this thing because it is in some ways an experiment in autobiography. (Heck, I don't even want to proofread these posts, as I'm sure my eagle-eyed readers have already noticed.) You may have only gotten my thoughts on eating lunch in my cube, but rest assured those were my uncensored thoughts on eating lunch in my cube.
2) Because genuine political thought and discourse is complicated and requires a commonly understood frame of reference. Putting together items on that level takes a lot of time and effort, which is why the Internet is full of people calling each other names and attacking each other's positions without much effort to understand why the other person is saying what they're saying. And a blog isn't a good format for that sort of thought, unless it's genuinely dedicated to political thought, in which case it has enough time to develop a full framework and context around specific items. I'm not trying to build a political framework here, I'm just capturing a few random thoughts in words.
3) Because I already have more than enough opportunity in other venues to discuss my opinions on matters of both local and national politics. I also have more than enough opportunity in other venues to have my opinions on matters of both local and national politics ignored by people who aren't really listening, but just want to make their own points. Just because I won't be blogging about it doesn't necessarily mean that I won't be thinking about it or even possibly writing an e-mail about it.
4) Because I'm mostly doing this for fun as something other than work or politics, which already take up a big chunk of my time.
5) Because I'm likely to occasionally comment on aspects of politics, anyway, despite items 1-4. For example, I'm sure that I'll put together a post on the fact that our village is honoring Jim Donahue and Gene Matkowski for their years and years of service on our village's water board. That'll be a political post, but hopefully it will discuss something not obvious in politics and something that isn't being discussed elsewhere on 100,000 political blogs. I guess another way of saying that is that I didn't have anything particularly new to add to the public discussion of the inauguration or the election.
*6) Because I flat-out stole the short-answer bit at the top of this post from Ryan Claytor's FAQs at his Elephant Eater Comics site. I put it to you, gentle reader, would you trust political commentary from a blogger who steals his best bits from Ryan? I also put it to you all that you should go over to Ryan's site and order "The Collected And Then One Day - Vol 1" which is really a much more entertaining and insightful read that this long bit of metablogging. Plus, I won't feel guilty about stealing Ryan's comment if somebody buys a copy of his entirely excellent book.
7) Because Patioboater and Patio Boat Blog (TM) reserve the right to change any of the rules they've made up about this blog at any moment. We're just winging it, folks.
(Offer to keep my commentating nose out of politics may not be valid in your state or metropolitan area. Consult with your attorney for full details. Side effects include indigestion, insomnia, inflammation of the lower extremities, and the heartbreak of psoriasis. Please consult your doctor of political science before taking Patio Boat Blog political comments internally.)
P.S. That "public forum" bit up in #1 is also why I probably won't post much in the way of specifics about my job in here, either. The word "Dooce" has meaning to me!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
First Post
Well, as part of my siblings' continuing effort to drag me into the 21st Century, I now have a blog.
This is it. Exciting, isn't it? No? Just wait. It might not get more exciting, but it will eventually get longer.
This is it. Exciting, isn't it? No? Just wait. It might not get more exciting, but it will eventually get longer.
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