Blogging

Holy, moly, it's been a lifetime since I've updated here.  Blake was good enough to challenge me for the funny stuff last month and though I'm loathe to disappoint him, looking back over these posts I see there's a disappointing amount of funny and an overwhelming amount of banality.  Sorry, friend Blake.  Let me try to do better.

I started this blog for a reason - I just can't remember what it was.  Oh, right.  Here's the reason.  And here's the first post, six long years ago.  And here's a secret:  I'd actually started this blog way before that first post.  For some reason, I'd deleted the first version and so the first posts are now down the memory hole.

I've title this post "Blogging" and tagged it that way as well, but I see I've used that tag 82 times - 83, now - and I seem to blog a dismayingly amount about not blogging.  Which I'm doing now.  But with Twitter and Facebook, has blogging become obsolete?

Could be.  Those social media platforms offer a lot and I've found myself over there to be far more active than I have been over here.  Why?  I can't rightly say.  Both platforms offer an immediacy, and an audience, that I don't get over here on Blogger but this blog is where I started and I really should either stoke the fires over here or give it up altogether.

Which is all to say, I really need to get back to blogging.  Some things just won't work on Twitter or Facebook.

Osama Bin Laden - Killed!

Of course you've heard the news but in pre-Internet days, news like this would be preserved by buying copies of newspapers and magazines and stowing them in a closet and bringing them out in future years to remember the occasion. Now we post links. Well, I'd better post 'em while they're available:

From MSNBC.com:

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans, was slain in his luxury hideout in Pakistan early Monday in a firefight with U.S. forces, ending a manhunt that spanned a frustrating decade.

"Justice has been done," President Barack Obama declared as crowds formed outside the White House to celebrate. Many sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "We Are the Champions," NBC News reported.

Hundreds more waved American flags at ground zero in New York — where the twin towers that once stood as symbols of American economic power were brought down by bin Laden's hijackers 10 years ago.

From Fox News:

Declaring “justice has been done,” President Obama announced late Sunday that Usama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan, marking the end of the worldwide manhunt that began nearly a decade ago on Sept. 11, 2001.

The president made the stunning announcement within hours of informing congressional leaders. He said bin Laden was killed Sunday, the culmination of years of intelligence gathering. The news drew a large crowd to the front of the White House, as well as in Times Square, as people chanted “USA. USA.”

Obama, in his address to the nation shortly before midnight, thanked the Americans who have toiled in pursuit of bin Laden and applauded those who carried out the successful mission in Pakistan. Describing that mission only briefly, he said its result “is a testament to the greatness of our country.”

In a few months, certainly years, these links will no longer be any good but at least my little blog will have a reminder of this historic day.

Catching Up

I've been a bit busy lately what with filing season and all. I plan on catching up and soon but don't hold your breath.

Ray Bradbury Hates big Government

I'm late to the game on this - the Bradbury-hates-Big-Government meme's been floating around the conservative blogosphere for a few days now - but I had this marked to post so I might as well post it.

Hey, have you heard writer Ray Bradbury doesn't like big government? It's true:

“There is too much government today. We've got to remember the government should be by the people, of the people and for the people.”

The native of Waukegan, Ill., has never been shy about expressing himself -- he described President Clinton with a word that rhymes with "knithead" back in 2001-- nor is he timid about correcting people when it comes to his own perceived legacy. Bradbury chafes, for instance, at the description of his work as science fiction -- in the past he has pointed out that, to his mind, "Fahrenheit 451"is the only sci-fi book in his vast body of work -- and despite his passion for more national space projects, he is not technology obsessive by any means.

“We have too many cellphones. We've got too many Internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now.”

Sounds like Bradbury's got the curmudgeon dial cranked to 11 - and, yeah, he's at odds with himself about wanting less government and having the government getting us to the moon and Mars but, well, there you are - but close readers of his work will notice this stance is nothing new. Take a look at his introduction to Fahrenheit 451 and you'll see an author railing against political correctness long before political correctness had sunken its fangs into our culture. He's a radical old man, that Bradbury, and I'm glad to see him still alive and kicking and grousing about one thing or another.

Disney Blog

I have some online friends who are in the Public Relations business and they've recently been knocking around the ideas of what special challenges there are out there for PR folk. Imagine working in the PR department for BP during their disastrous oil spill this past Spring and this Summer. A textbook case.

Social media is proving to be a massively effective tool in their toolkit for getting their clients' message out. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter.

The Disney PR department has started a blog and like all things Disney, it's just about perfect. The commenters, though, seem like "plants" but I haven't tested them to be sure so I'm just guessing. The posters seem as enthusiastic about all things Disney and always able to answer questions or make points that dovetail nicely with the latest Disney talking points. The posters are good, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a willing member of the Disney cult. No, really.

Still, I'm sure my PR friends can't help but look on with envy at this perfect-storm of a post:

Eight turtles injured by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have begun their rehabilitation at Walt Disney World Resort under the care of our animal experts.

Late last week, Disney’s Animal Programs research scientist and veterinarian Dr. Andy Stamper transported the six endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles — among the most endangered species of sea turtles in the world — and two green sea turtles from the Florida Panhandle to our facilities here at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Engineers and water science expert have converted a backstage area into a temporary rehabilitation facility – setting up salt-water pools capable of housing up to 35 sea turtles.

Disney. They care about wildlife.

Oh, and ticket prices are going up.

Caught Up

Looks like I'm caught up - vacation pictures, movie reviews, book reviews. It was a hoppin' July, I'll tells ya'. We're blessed and grateful to do the things we've done.

Now August looms. Looks like it'll start hot and end only slightly less hot but you can sense the season changing. Emily begins her band camp next week but with Rachel now a high-school graduate, it'll be entirely different for her. And us. This isn't news but the changes in our children's lives are changes in our own lives as well. We're in uncharted territory here but then that's the case most of the time, isn't it?

I'm curious to see how it turns out.

Bada-Bing!

I've been noodling around with Bing Maps - Microsoft's answer to Google Earth - and my reaction is mixed.

I really like the "bird's-eye" view I can get with addresses - the link above should take you to one of those views and you can see for yourself. The detail is superior to Google Earth but Bing likes to keep me at a certain distance; I can zoom in only so far before Bing decides I've come close enough. And I can't embed the view in a blog-post, either; I have to switch to a plain ol' map view and that's no fun. Bing also has a "street-view" equivalent to Google Earth but it's coverage is lacking. They've yet to come down our street and, so far, I'm aware of at least two different views that Google Earth has provided of our front door.

Still, I have to admit, I enjoy using Bing to soar over familiar, and not so familiar, landmarks. It's a good start for Microsoft. I'm looking forward to when they get all the kinks worked out.

I Write Like Ernest Hemingway

According to this site. And I only had to submit five or six entries before Hemingway came up. Before that, I wrote like David Foster Wallace and Stephen King and Nick Hornby.

Yeah, the site's a proven fraud but did anyone really think it wasn't?

Status

I'd planned on blogging the rest of our journey but we came home to find a virus on the PC. Drat. Off to Best Buy it went to root it out. Could be a few days. Meanwhile, talk amongst yourselves.

Is this the title of the post?

And is this the body?

And does this picture of Emily come through?

Test Blogging From My iPhone

As I mentioned in the comments below, I'm test-blogging with my iPhone. (No, it's not the new one. Not yet, anyway.) I've blogged before from my iPhone but I've forgotten how to do it. Bear with me as I re-learn.

Normal programming to commence shortly.

Testing

Daylight Ahead

I'm slowly making my way towards daylight and finding time to catch up on a few posts. Clearing out my cache of stuff I've come across the last few weeks. Hope you find 'em interesting.

Light Blogging

Well, lighter than usual. Filing season, you know? Back to the usual sporadic posting when things calm down a bit.

Tax Season = Light Blogging

The Good Lord created Time so everything wouldn't happen at once. Clearly He never owned and operated a tax and accounting practice because, well, everything is happening at once. Not that we're surprised or complaining; to quote Hyman Roth in The Godfather Part 2, This is the life we chose.

Happy to be busy and we'll get everything done. Count on it. But tax season does make for some scant blogging so sorry for the lack of posts. I'll work on correcting that soon.

Video?

Anyone know how to get video recorded on a Sony video uploaded to YouTube? The Sony files appear proprietary and unreadable by YouTube and any, ahem, free video editing software I can find. I've got some great stuff of Emily and Rachel's Christmas music and choir programs from earlier this week but can't get it posted.

Get Excited and Make Things!

Wil Wheaton on using the power of the Internet to help you create things:

So what are you waiting for? Do or do not. There is no Try. Whether it's an Etsy store, or a book with Lulu, or a T-shirt or a mug or a clock or a fucking teddy bear in a sweater from CafePresssingle ... hell, if it's a photograph you put on Flickr or a podcast you host on Archive.org, or a story that you write for Ficly or your own blog, just do it! Go get excited and make things, and when you're done, come back here and link us to what you did.

Really, if you're burning to create something, create it. There's no excuse anymore to to keep you from doing it.

Hi There, 4,000th visitor

You dropped by on Saturday around 4:30. Thanks. Hope you enjoyed yourself while you were here. Stay longer next time, okay?

I see the current rate of visitors remains the same: about a thousand every three months. In blogging terms, that's a glacial rate but I'm happy for everyone who comes by. I hope I managed to brighten your day in some small way.

iPhone Blogging

You may have noticed I've been rattling around here trying to re-learn how to post using a smart phone. In this case, I'm trying to learn what I can do with my iPhone. I've no problem over at Twitter and Facebook but I haven't come across a free app that I can use for this site. No prob. I can text or e-mail, can't I? Well, yes, but that's the problem: texting only allows me to, well, text - the picture I send doesn't show up. And e-mailing works but my primary e-mail account seems unrecognizable on my phone so I have to use another e-mail address.

I know, I know, big deal. But I just wanted to let you know why things have been a little light around here.

Not that you were dying to know.

Look! I'm posting from my iPhone!

I've accessed blogger directly from my iPhone. I'm awesome!