Good Friday. Ken Collins explains [1] why it’s called “Good”. As a boy, I can recall being restricted to the house between noon, the time mentioned when the sun was blotted out of the sky, and 3pm, the time our Lord died.
* The Music: Don Williams [2] collection. No particular album, I told Winamp to grab the directory containing his stuff and go to town, and it did. I have perhaps 10 of his albums converted to MP3 along with a couple greatest hits collections amassed over the years. I should explain, I suppose, that I’ve been a fan of the man since the 60’s. He formed the Pozo-Seco singers back in ’64, a group that produced a number of memorable tracks, such as “Look What You’ve Done” and “I Can Make It With You”… and of course their first Single, “Time” which went to the top ten. What a debut!
He went on to record a number of number one singles on the Country charts, did very well indeed on crossover stuff, (“Good old boys like me”, “Tulsa Time”) and won the hearts of millions with that suburb voice of his. He’s called ‘The Gentile Giant” and so he is. I managed to catch his act at the height of his career here in Rochester at the Auditorium Theater. He was even more personable than I imagined.
I’ve always got a few of his albums with me in the truck, and at work. Smooth and gentle delivery and a voice sounding like honey poured over hot coals, along with sparse arrangements designed to highlight his voice and not overwhelm the listener, make for a sound unlike anything else in the neighborhood, musically speaking.
Don’s retired from touring now, last year being his farewell tour… him being in his 70’s, now. Sad; I wanted to catch him again, but family and other obligations, always prevented it.
* Hume, [3] last night:
The left-wing blogosphere was abuzz earlier this week over a photo of White House adviser Karl Rove taken in a Chattanooga restaurant in February. Rove is seen carrying a folder with the word COPTIX on it — the name of a Chattanooga graphic design and web development company.
The “Wonkette” site called the picture “a crime scene” and said: “This proves without a doubt that Karl Rove is illegally running all the White House e-mail through a private company instead of the White House government servers which belong to the American people.”
It also referred to the administration’s “double-secret private communication system.” Daily Kos headlined: “Rove Personally Connected to E-mail Scandal” and said the picture “may help establish a timeline or provide ammunition for a subpoena.”
But it turns out the photo was an April Fool’s Day joke. Here’s the original on the right. There is no folder in Rove’s hand. Coptix Executive Vice President Josiah Roe says it was an “experiment” to illustrate how misinformation can filter upward and outward. He says all the bloggers failed to realize it was April Fool’s Day weekend. They also failed to notice the tip-off — that the image on the TV set in the corner was also fake — from the 1970’s TV show “Land of the Lost.”
What does this demonstrate? That these leftist morons are going to latch on to ANYTHING they think is going to credit their Bush Derangement syndrome. The speed with which these idiots jumped on board this hoax would chasten anyone… but not these idiots. Given the same input, they’ll do the same thing all over again.
* James Joyner says tonight:
Steve Rubel [4] notes that, while the number of blogs is increasing, the number of blog posts is decreasing, owing perhaps to the growth of other social media, and thinks blogging has therefore “peaked” as a phenomenon.
Brad Levinson [5] respectfully disagrees. He notes a number of trends, including the emergence of corporate and non-Western blogs, which he believes are primed for an explosion in growth. Further,
Also not taken into account is the difference between “journalistic/trade/opinion” bloggers versus the “OMGZ! Sanjaya is awfulz!” bloggers. My bet is that the amount of “personal” bloggers is dying off as they move to social networks laden with RSS and other types of blog-like CMSes. So, blog consumption and usage has merely changed and morphed and evolved, not peaked.
Time will tell, I guess. My bet’s on blogging to continue to evolve and thrive. Indeed, in the not-too-distant future, I see the distinction between blogs and other social media largely disappearing.]
I think I have to go with James on this one. I also think the numbers are overly inflated , by virtue of the idea that the majority of them won’t last beyond day 3. Most of the numbers presented, are not serious online entities. They are, rather, the average teenybopper spreading his wings for a few minutes. Come back to me and let me know when those blogs have been online for as many years as this one has.
That point aside, the article on linking to hear is interesting because it touches on the infighting among the left side bloggers. He titles his bit, appropriately, “Why Lefty Bloggers Are Owed a Living [6].”
Really. And that’s the gist of every post I’ve seen on the subject; these people are bent all outta shape that they’re not being handed money for simply spouting. Well, at least they’re consistent.
Kathy at Liberty Street [7] and Shakesville [8] argues that what’s needed is more socialism, with the A-list lefties spreading the link love, starting mentorship programs, and otherwise living up to their values of “diversity, inclusiveness, a place at the table for everyone, [and putting] human needs before defense contractors’ wish lists.” In doing so, they should take a page out of books from the evil right-wingers who, despite being, “narrow, intolerant, exclusive, and hateful are so much better at supporting their ideological soulmates than we on the left.”
Well, of course, that particular dog barking up the wrong tree. In watching what’s been going on on the left side of the sphere lately, the one conclusion that you can draw is that the left is anything but charitable, even to each other. Indeed, based on what I’m seeing, tyhe ones being “narrow, intolerant, exclusive, and hateful” are the lefties.
The whole thing seems to be about what I’ve spoken of before, here…personal power and instant satisfaction, and to hell with anyone else. They are all out for themselves. “By their fruits, ye shall know them”, he said. And so we do.
Funny thing, they’ve been charging the right with precisely that, for quite a while now. Kathy may be on to something, when she observes that it is not in fact happening on the right as their conventional wisdom would have it. Personally, I wonder how many on the left will take the hint. I doubt strongly that it will be many.
* I’ve got snow outside my window here. It’s cold again, likely for the last weekend of the winter weather. We’ll spend most of it at home, I suspect. I’ve got work to do on the blog, anyway.
I’ve already done quite a bit of work; I’ve added some code to make the site more readable on your cell phone or PDA. basically, it inserts a different theme, one that’s far more simple than the one I’m running. Makes it a lot more readable on that small screen. I’ve also added tracking code, and some writing shortcuts. I’m also considering updating the version of WordPress I’m using, but there’s a stumbling block involving the version of MySQL we’re using.
* Look, Billy [9], going after a yutz like Erb is important, if only to teach others that there is no sense in what he’s saying. I do encourage you to continue, for that reason alone, (aside from which, it’s a lot more productive than kicking the dog ) …and I have joined in, for both reasons… But the concept of him taking a flying leap off of a bridge, is just not happening, man. You know was well as I do that kind of a reaction is reserved for somebody who is actually capable of both a common sense, and shame. Erb has demonstrated repeatedly that he is incapable of either.