Yesterday, users of Internet Explorer version 7 were probably unable to view this site, or many other blogs, due to a bug in IE7 triggered by the Sitemeter code many blogs have embedded on their pages.

Information on the problem here, with specifics about the IE7 bug here.

Sitemeter appears to have resolved the problem on their end for the time being.

But... why are you still using IE7? Get Firefox.

Yeah, that was me.

Maybe one of these days I'll get another bit of linkage from the Prof, for something other than a crappy Photoshop job. Of course, that would entail me being creative or insightful, so don't hold your breath.

A few things that have caught my eye so far today:

• Darleen Click, Protein Wisdom: Bullies of the Living Constitution. Slow down, Canada — we're catching up to you.
  
  
• Just A Grunt, JammieWearingFool: Something That Needs To Be Said Again. Again and again.
  
  
• Ed Morrissey, Hot Air: Breaking: Obama passes on public financing. Pants on fire.
  
  
• Mike Hendrix, Cold Fury: Of motes and beams. I'm outraged.
  
  
• John Hawkins, Right Wing News: Parent Accused Of Child Abuse Based On Reports From A Psychic. I want to not believe.
  
  
• At Mostly Cajun: Marching morons. Lock-step on the road to Hell.
  
  
• Jay Tea at Wizbang! makes A Fearless Prediction. Unfortunately, he's probably right.

Just in case you were wondering where Bill Whittle has been....

And if you don't know who Bill is, take a day off from work and start reading here, then here, and here, and here.

From Mostly Cajun, we have the latest episode of "The Name Game." It's a regular feature there, and reading it has the same horrid fascination as watching a train wreck; you can't turn away.

A former employee of one of the many medical offices I frequent just had a baby this past week. I heard from one of her co-workers that the child had been named "Jayden" or "Jaden" or something similarly homophonic.

I have no idea if that's supposed to be a boy's or a girl's name.

[Exit, shaking head in dismay.]

. . . Mike at Cold Fury has used it well enough that I don't have to: "risible."

(Language alert is in effect.)

Because I suck, that's why. And I'm rather busy today.

More later.

Or perhaps, maybe more, eventually.

1. askance
2. resentment
3. raconteur
4. hemorrhage
5. nozzle
6. knucklehead
7. omelette du fromage
8. blockbuster
9. apotheosis
10. spud

I recently got tagged by my long-time friend Beth, but sadly the "tag" was buried under an avalanche of recent comments. Anyway, here goes:

The Rules:

1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want.
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so we can track it as travels across the blogosphere.
4. Tag at least five more blogs with links.
5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

Six words? Hmm....

Disabled, nerdy veteran, hermit. Blessed, nonetheless.

(I'll take a pass on the followup tagging, though.)

I've installed the new software — MT4.1 (the open source variety) and have begun working on the template redesign.

You can see the current state of affairs here.

This is a lot more complicated than the older MT template system. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. It might be a while before I get even the basic functionality I need ready to roll out.

Having reached my fifth blogiversary, and my fourth with this design/layout, it's time to do a little remodelling and, I hope, some revitalizing.

I'm going to start with a fresh install of MT4.1, rather than an upgrade. I may hose my archives, maybe not — I'll keep them intact, but linkage may be broken along the way.

Redesign/rebranding is going to happen, as well. These templates take forever to rebuild, which really slows down commenting and rebuilding, for which I get a lot of grief from my webhosts. I can spike a server CPU without even trying.

Nothing much will be be changing right now, and I won't be putting up a fullly-implemented site all at once — the changes will be incremental — but don't be surprised if you visit one day soon and everything looks different.

Ah, here comes another must-read from Bill Whittle: Forty Second Boyd and The Big Picture (part 1 and part 2.)

Set aside some time, then go read. No excuses.

One of the the things that makes a good blog is an active intelligent comment section.

At Protein Wisdom (one of my top five favorite sites) we read, in comments to the post Best & Worst Christmas Television Specials,

My other favorite Christmas special is the one where President Bush is trying to explain logic to a bunch of reporters and the reporters want to talk about moods and emotions and then all of a sudden Santa comes in with an Uzi and strafes the whole press corps.

Now I know what I'm asking for, for Christmas.

Envy — Whoever gets to kick Ted Rall's ass for this, I envy.

Lust — Someone really really likes fire... in an entirely inappropriate way. Pity we don't use firing squads to deal with such.

Gluttony — They always want more, and they won't rest until they get it.

Greed — Illegals demand: "Gimme gimme gimme!"

Sloth — Too lazy to do due diligence in their reporting, TNR gets pwned by Bob Owens.

Wrath — Code Pink is mad... mad, as in "insane."

Pride — "I'm a reporter! Respect me!" Um... no. That syllogism just doesn't work.

I saw this posted yesterday on MySpace*, and thought the article was rather interesting.

Interesting, indeed. I wrote it almost three years ago.

Annoying, that. If I depended on my writing for my living (which, I might mention, I used to do) or on hit-counts for my self-worth, I'd be steamed by someone lifting my work, even though (as in this instance) the "lifter" makes no attempt to pretend the work is their own.

They're called hyperlinks, people. Use them. If you don't know how, you perhaps ought not to have a web page of your own.

^{* [No, I don't troll MySpace; I saw it in my referrer logs. Would I be wrong to think most MySpace users are retarded?]}

Steve H. of Hog On Ice may be many things — including one of the funniest guys I read — but I can guarantee that he's not an SOB.

Thanks, Steve.

You asked for a trackback, here's an attempt.

OK, that didn't seem to work. How about this?

Though I've not been able to make a personal contribution this year, it is incumbent upon me to point out that today is Tartan Day.

Some previous years' entries from Yours Truly can be seen here, here, here, here, and here. The last one might explain how a guy who isn't in fact of Scots origin is involved with Tartan Day in any way.

As she does every year to very good effect, Ith at Absinthe & Cookies is coordinating the Tartan Day festivities. Do go and check her out.

Participating blogs:

As I do every year, I have managed to completely forget my blogiversary, this year my fourth such having been on the 9th of this month.

Of course, this is an eminently forgettable site, more so lately due to my scant posting and lack of weighty discussion. Perhaps I can rectify that.

Four years I've been doing this? Egads, I suck.

Kvetch about my own problems as I may, they are nothing — nothing — compared to what Cathy Seipp has gone through these past few years.

If only all of us could show such grit as Cathy did in the face of defeat.

I've been toiling away on site maintenance issues... but not here. Which I should be doing, but that's another story altogether. I really do want to get a new design going....

No, rather, I've been assisting Ith at Absinthe & Cookies. I still have some tweaking to do, but go ahead and visit.

Having been tagged by Stander, and not having done a meme in a while, well, it's time.

The rules of the game: I whip up a quick blurb about 1) the 3 things I want most for Christmas, and 2) the 3 things I definitely DON'T want for Christmas. Then, I proceed to tag players B, C, D, E and F (that's five other other people, for the sequentially-challenged) in the Comments section of one of their recent posts with a note leading to my post inviting them to do the same thing. Simple, easy, and free traffic for everybody involved. What's not to love?

Here we go...

Wants:
1) Sing along with me: "All I want for Christmas is two working knees."
2) I want one or two more cats. Too bad Mycah doesn't play well with others.
3) Mostly, I want to see my family this year. OK, I already got that.

Don't Wants:
1) Don't get me something just for the sake of getting me something. I already have a lifetime supply of stuff.
2) Nothing girly. No scented soaps, no precious little figurines, etc. I like being a man, and would prefer not to be mistaken by visitors for anything else.
3) Please: no "self-help" anything. Ever. I believe in the principle of "it's the thought that counts," so if you send me something that implies I'm not already perfect in every way, I'll know what you're thinking.

Tagging:

Jim at Smoke on the Water
Vinnie, of Vince aut Morire
Maggie, she of the meanderings and shameless plugs
Lori at Downtown Chick Chat
Bob, at Confederate Yankee

In today's mail:

I knew having an Amazon Wishlist linked here would pay off.

Thanks, Carolyn! Woohoo!

I've been called many things before.

"Stretch," "Tiny" — classics. "Sasquatch," "Lurch" — a bit more creative. "Uncle Russ." My all-time favorite.

I won't get into the various insults.

But I don't think I have ever been called a "fine blogger."

It's not actually true. . . but I'll say thanks anyway to Jay Tea, who is 100% correct in the rest of his post on election dirty tricks. No one, but no one, gets a pass to mess with the integrity of our elections.

OK, when did my comments stop working?

Argghhh.

[8:00pm - OK, they seem to be working now.]

Bill Whittle has posted the next installment of his magnum opus: Seeing the Unseen (Part 1).

Today, it seems that legions of people – growing legions – are falling victims to ideas and beliefs that on the face of it are patently false…things that are so clearly and obviously nuts that you really have to wonder what deep, mighty engine of emotional need could possibly drive a brain so deep into a hole.

As always with Bill's work, it's a good read. No — a must read.

I wanted one of those submarines, too.

For his remarks at IMAO, I hereby declare a catwa against commenter "Son of Bob."

Catwa is also declared against Professor Glenn Reynolds for quoting those remarks approvingly.

Cat pee be upon them both.

I've done some work under the hood here, and I think I might have broken something.

If you have a blog, could you please try sending a trackback to this post? (Or to any post, it doesn't matter.)

And, if it's not asking too much, if you do send a TB and it fails, could you let me know in the comments?

Thanks much.

Just in case you're the last blog-reader not to have seen it yet, check out Protein Wisdom's Jeff Goldstein in the debut of his new video series, The Citizen Journalist Report.

Episode 1 revolves around a great concept, well executed. It seems that the quality of Jeff's writing may be matched by his ability to think on his feet in a "live" situation.

It should be interesting to see what Jeff has in store for future outings.

This post exists merely to disprove the proposition that I have become nothing but a catblogger.

Don't get me wrong — I like cats — but I really ought to be posting more than photos of Mycah and seven-word movie reviews (eight, if you break out the contraction.)

But I'm at the office, and it's busy enough that I can't sit and compose anything longer at the moment... or most other moments, really.

It seems to me that if there is one lesson to be learned from Jeff Goldstein's current episode with the demented Dr. Deb Frisch, it is not in relation to blogs and blogging, nor is it about the state of political discourse on the web. Rather, it is to parents who give their kids unfettered access to the internet.

There are sick freaks everywhere, and given the opportunity, they will prey on your kids. Blogspace is no exception.

Parents: know what your kids are doing online. Don't guess — find out. And take threats seriously.

Jeff Goldstein and his family are under attack again. Known nutcase Deb Frisch is the presumptive malefactor.

The far fringes of the Left cannot out-argue Jeff on the points, so instead they try to silence him in other ways. One has, for the moment, succeeded... I hope it's only for the very short term.

Warning: there may be some extremely vile language in some of these links. Deb is not a rational person, and tends to inspire, shall we say, strong feelings in the comments of people who disagree with her.

Jeff
Ace
Curtis Schweitzer

I did a traceroute based on the IP address Ace posted - see a similar result at DNSstuff.com.

Hop number 14 in the traceroute linked above is at a device called eugn-dsl-gw01-97.eugn.qwest.net, which to those of us in the networking business shows that the destination address connects to a DSL gateway router in Eugene, Oregon. Surprise, surprise... this is the area of the country in which the ex-professor Frisch has said she resides.

Coincidentally, this is the same gateway that Deb was connected to the last time she pulled this crap, immediately before her departure from the University of Arizona. [I helped Jeff with the IP, DNS and other lookups at that time.]

It's time for Deb Frisch to disappear into the confines of a cell, padded or otherwise, and down the memory hole as well.

Internet verb, indeed.

Update(s) below the fold...

Interestingly, as of 4:30am EDT (hey, I work nights, so sue me) references to professor Deb have disappeared from Technorati, at least for the moment.

^{[Click for larger.]}

Update, 1:50pm: it's working now.

Update, 2am Saturday: It's been a busy day at the office (BGP can be such a pain) but allow me to note some of the other folks posting about this dust-up.

Hot Air
Patterico, here and here
Emperor Misha
Llamabutchers
It Comes In Pints?
Overtaken By Events

Also worth noting: Dr. Demented Deb hasn't succeeded in driving Jeff away from the 'net, as the non-dancing armadillo will attest.

Finally (?), my brief thoughts about a lesson to be learned from this episode.

At Patterico's Pontifications, Patrick Frey documents, at length and with class and humor, the full tale of Glenn Greenwald's sock-puppetry.

Sock puppetry — the use of pseudonymous commenters to defend one's self or to advance one's own talking points, thus implying that there are actually people who agree with you — is a bloggery misdemeanor* that, while not itself necessarily invalidating any arguments the blogger/puppeteer makes, does indeed speak to the honesty of the blogger/puppeteer.

In a media where personal credibility is all-important, evident dishonesty is perhaps good cause to question any or all of the blogger's product.

* As opposed to, say, using blog posts and/or comments to threaten people with whom you disagree — a blogging (and, y'know, probably an actual) felony.

In the last 24 hours, there have been almost 700 attempts to spam-comment this site.

Not a single one got through.

For those of you blogging using MT3, I highly recommend the MT-Keystrokes plugin.

Spam... phishing... trolls... and now the Internet has sock puppets.

This Dave guy — he's a genius, and so good to his daughter.

Jeff Goldstein (the thinking man's Argus Hamilton), having had his family threatened, and subsequently having been the target of repeated Denial-of-Service attacks, has now achieved a status that in future will undoubtedly earn him great deference from the Left: he is now a victim.

To members of the political Left, being a victim is like having a Platinum AmEx card and never having to pay it off. It's like Chobham armor. It's as good as having a fusion-powered bullhorn.

Therefore:

It is henceforth forbidden to gainsay Jeff. He is a victim.

His opinions on all matters must be respected. He is a victim.

Those who criticize Jeff for any reason at all may be mere insensitive cretins, but odds are they're card-carrying Nazis. Because, of course, Jeff is a victim: blameless and praiseworthy.

. . . .

What's that you say? He's one of those "neo-cons"?

Never mind.

Update: Heh.

In my Copious Free Time™, I've begun work on a bit of a project.

Since it doesn't inherently involve computers or the web, I've decided to blog the project: Black Prince.

I've no idea how long it will take to complete, or how regularly I'll work on it. Or whether I'll keep up the blogging on it.

But for a guy who works nights, this sort of hobby does have an advantage over furniture-making, in that it's very quiet, and doesn't irritate the neighbors.

So, it seems that spammers once again have made a nuisance of themselves, using whatever bots they use to hammer an mt-comments.cgi script I'd left laying around unsecured. My hosting company, the excellent LiquidWeb, did the smart thing and killed the account for a couple hours until the problem was resolved.

So now I'm back.

The Carnival of the Cats, which is usually a Sunday evening sort of thing, will be here Monday morning... because someone has to be the guy who works on Sunday evenings keeping the Internet running, and that guy happens to be me.

Something is making the Movable Type comments script thrash the CPU on my web server. I presume it's %#^&@! spammers.

For the moment, I have disabled all comments. If you feel an absolute need to harangue me, there's an email link over there in the sidebar.

Update: It's good to be a professional troubleshooter - I may have solved my own problem. We'll see.

Dang. Looks like Aaron the Liberal Slayer got hacked by followers of the Religion of Peace, Enlightenment and Understanding. Again.

Maybe the Feds will have been watching and waiting for it, and will consequently be able to come up with some JDAM targeting information.

Update: On further reflection: forget the JDAM — precision isn't needed. A bigger footprint kills more roaches.

Update 2: He's back. It's hard to keep a good man down.

Bonus: Scott has a screenshot. (I got one, but it's on my work computer... I knew I forgot to do something before I left the office.)

Update 3, 4/28: And now, of course, the obligatory DDOS attack on warbloggers, Aaron included. It must be in the Koran or something....

I'm still working on a new design, but it's "behind the scenes."

Perhaps a fortunate* few will eventually be allowed to see it and comment on it so I can tweak it before I roll it out.

Having been a professional website designer/architect in the past, I figure the site development process that worked rather well for a former employer would, if scaled down, probably work well anywhere. Not that it's a huge deal for a site like this... but I do tend to think that useability is a vastly underrated aspect to blog design, and it helps to have a few people look at a site and say "this works" or "that doesn't."

* For varying values of "fortunate."

Just a reminder: the site will be undergoing maintenance, upgrades, and redesign for the next couple of days.

The hacking which was responsible for the suddenness of these changes has turned out to be a MoveableType vulnerability, the nature of which apparently has yet to be determined. MT users are advised to lock down the permissions on their sites. See:

http://www.learningmovabletype.com/announce/a/000822attacked.php
http://www.learningmovabletype.com/announce/a/000823update_to_attacked.php
and
http://www.learningmovabletype.com/archives/000770cgiwrap_and_suexec.php

During the redesign, please feel free to let me know if you see any weirdness (apart from that inherent in the site owner, who is already quite aware of his own eccentricities, thankyouverymuch.)

Update: the upgrade seems to have gone well. Template re-design awaits... but I'm not sure exactly how different I want to make the new design. We'll see. *

Fighting a bit of database corruption here - some templates are hosed. I'm working on fixing it... but I have a job that occupies me Saturday and Sunday evenings, so things might not be back up to speed before Monday.

[Update: No, it's not merely database corruption - it's been hacked, and some templates altered. I don't know if my archives are all intact. I'm still trying to find out what damage has been done. Fingers crossed....]

I may also take this opportunity to upgrade my MovableType to 3.2, something I've been meaning to do for a while.

I've also been contemplating a complete site redesign. Two years is long enough for this design, I think.

Blogiversary. Third. Just had it a couple days ago.

Deal? Big.

Not.

You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and don't enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you. Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in?

(Via Ace, because I like a quiz as much as the next guy — as long as it's not a lame 'My Little Pony' quiz, or something equally fru-fru.)

Bill Whittle has some news, and a heads-up.

I've been tagged by Nehring (whose movie reviews are exceptional - take the time to cruise through his site and archives — you won't be disappointed.)

Four Jobs I've Had in My Life:
Teller
Hobby shop assistant manager
Cryptologic Linguist
Network Engineer

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over, and Have:
Master & Commander - the Far Side of the World
Lord of the Rings (all three films)
Battle of Britain
Zulu

Four Places I Have Lived:
Santa Barbara, CA
Camp Hovey, Korea
Wheaton, IL
Cerritos, CA

Four TV Shows I Love To Watch:
House
24
Good Eats
NCIS

Four Places I Have Been On Vacation:
Colonial Williamsberg, VA
Ketchican, AK
Seoul, Korea
Victoria, British Columbia

Four Websites I Visit Daily:
Absinthe & Cookies
Protein Wisdom
This Blog is Full of Crap
Llama Butchers

Four Favorite Foods:
잡채 (Chap Chae)
Chiles rellenos
Artichoke
Barbecue

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
Asleep in bed
In the hottub at Mom's house
At a track meet in Santa Barbara, CA
Watching basketball in Maryville, TN

Four People I Am Tagging With This Meme:
Ith of Absinthe & Cookies
Beth of Yeah, Right, Whatever
Scott of Speed of Thought
Sharon of Tributaries

[Updated and revised.]

One thing those of you who have read my occasional TV, DVD, movie or music reviews might have noticed is that I don't do in-depth reviews of anything after viewing or listening just once. Usually, that's because I don't partake in entertainment in order to write a review. I simply try to enjoy it.

Add to that the fact that I rarely actually go to the movies, and I don't buy, willy-nilly, every CD that comes out, nor do I watch the "popular" TV shows. Most of them are utter dreck. (Well, I do watch NCIS and CSI and its variants. Good stuff, but I don't ever expect to write reviews of them.)

Nonetheless, there is quality entertainment to be had. One aspect of quality, per se, is the ability to stand the test of time. Perhaps that's why the CDs I occasionally buy were usually released a few years before I buy them.

Sometimes, however, the label "instant classic" really does apply. Something need not be twenty or more years old to have demonstrated qualities that will let it hold its own in the future. By way of example, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, which is now just two years old, is one such film. I recommended it here, and received some very good feedback. It is, I think, a film that will be eminently watchable for generations to come.

So if you see an in-depth review of mine, it will probably not be something that aired on TV last night, it probably won't be something you can still go see in the theaters, and it probably will not be something currently on the Billboard top-100 list. Probably not.

Furthermore, I don't intend to review too many things I would not recommend. My time is too valuable to me to waste becoming familiar enough with something I don't like, just to write a full review. If there's something don't like, I'll say so and move along.

Rather, I intend my reviews to be justifications for my recommendations. (Again, refer to M&C.) If I recommend something, you can be sure I either already own it, or it's in my shopping basket — putting my money where my mouth is, you might say.

All that having been said, I expect my next reviews to be of the 1996 movie That Thing You Do! and the CD Welcome Interstate Managers from 2003. Both, as you might expect, will be recommended.

Who's your daddy Emperor? Misha, that's who.

At Stop the ACLU today, a rare — no, unique — interview with the man behind the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

The money quote:

Most of all, we need to learn to be proud of our American heritage and all that we’ve achieved. We need to relearn the pride and gratitude that comes from living in the only superpower in the history of the world that didn’t use its power to force itself on others or steal what was theirs, we need to learn to not apologize for being the richest, strongest nation on Earth because we worked very hard for everything we’ve got, and we need to be constantly reminded that all of this, this blessing that is our homeland, was built on individualism and courage and not on collectivism and fear.

Via the Llama Butchers (Rob, in particular) we have the latest "list of things I've read, heard, eaten, done, or seen."

This time around, it's Sci-Fi movies.

Actually, with a list like this, it'll be easier to cross off the ones I haven't seen. I've bolded the ones I own on video.

* The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension! — one of my all-time favorites; vastly underrated. "Laugh while you can, monkey-boy."
* Akira
* Alien
* Aliens — Best action/adventure sci-fi film ever. "We'd better get back, 'cause it'll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night... mostly."
* Alphaville
* Back to the Future
* Blade Runner — My brain hurts after I watch this... but it's not a bad sort of hurt. "It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"
* Brazil
* Bride of Frankenstein
* Brother From Another Planet
* A Clockwork Orange
* Close Encounters of the Third Kind
* Contact — "I... had an experience."
* The Damned
* Destination Moon
* The Day The Earth Stood Still
* Delicatessen
* Escape From New York
* ET: The Extraterrestrial
* Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial)
* The Fly (1985 version)
* Forbidden Planet
* Ghost in the Shell
* Gojira/Godzilla — "Ogata, humans are weak animals." Weak, yes, but they make excellent kindling.
* The Incredibles
* Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version)
* Jurassic Park
* Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior
* The Matrix — "What is real? How do you define real?"
* Metropolis — ". . . ." (Hey, what do you expect? It's a silent movie.)
* On the Beach
* Planet of the Apes (1968 version)
* Robocop
* Sleeper
* Solaris (1972 version)
* Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
* Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
* Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
* The Stepford Wives
* Superman
* Terminator 2: Judgement Day
* The Thing From Another World
* Things to Come — "Is it this? Or that? All the universe? Or nothingness?"
* Tron — "End of line."
* 12 Monkeys
* 28 Days Later
* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
* 2001: A Space Odyssey
* La Voyage Dans la Lune
* War of the Worlds (1953 version) — "I'd say that 'gizmo' is a machine from another planet."

Dale, the host of Mostly Cajun, has lost his home, all his possessions, and his four beloved cats to a post-Katrina/Rita housefire.

He's OK, but... how do you define "OK?"

Apparently, something was pounding my comments script hard enough to wedge the server on which this domain resides. The webhost (LiquidWeb – good outfit, been with 'em for years and years, though they are a bit pricey – but their service is top-notch) did the responsible thing and suspended this domain's account for a few hours.

Now, if it had been me, I'd have killed the out-of-control process and chmoded the offending script to be non-executable, but hey, it's all of a piece. Problem resolved.

I just wish their "this account suspended" boilerplate didn't make me look like either a deadbeat or a warez d00d.

So, I'm back. Did you miss me?

Bill Whittle has posted again.. and as usual, it's excellent reading. Tribes.

My Tribe doesn’t see black and white skins. My Tribe only sees black and white hats, and the hat we choose to wear is the most personal decision we can make.

Read the whole thing, of course... just be prepared for a bit of harsh language — Bill has decided in this effort to let slip the Dogs of Swore, but it serves the purpose of the essay.

I'm a slacker today, so I'll just do the meme thing. (Via Laurence.)

Anyway, here’s what you do. You go to the Music Outfitters website and type your high school graduation year into the search tool. Select the “list of the 100 most popular songs” and you will get the Raw Material for the next step in the process, which is to look through the list and decide which songs you hated, which ones you liked, and which one was your favorite.

Post the list on your Online Journal, striking through the songs you hated (or still hate) and boldfacing the ones you liked (or still like). Bold and underline your favorite song. No opinion? Leave it as-is.

There was an awful lot of (and a lot of awful) music in 1980. And now — as if you needed it — you get my opinion on the matter. You get to decide which sucks worse: the music of 1980, or my taste in music.

1. Call Me, Blondie
2. Another Brick In The Wall, Pink Floyd
3. Magic, Olivia Newton-John
4. Rock With You, Michael Jackson
5. Do That To Me One More Time, Captain and Tennille
6. Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Queen
7. Coming Up, Paul McCartney
8. Funkytown, Lipps, Inc.
9. It's Still Rock And Roll To Me, Billy Joel
10. The Rose, Bette Midler
11. Escape (The Pina Colada Song), Rupert Holmes
12. Cars, Gary Numan
13. Cruisin', Smokey Robinson
14. Working My Way Back To You/Forgive Me Girl, Spinners
15. Lost In Love, Air Supply
16. Little Jeannie, Elton John
17. Ride Like The Wind, Cristopher Cross
18. Upside Down, Diana Ross
19. Please Don't Go, K.C. and The Sunshine Band
20. Babe, Styx
21. With You I'm Born Again, Billy Preston and Syreeta
22. Shining Star, Manhattans
23. Still, Commodores
24. Yes, I'm Ready, Teri De Sario With K.C.
25. Sexy Eyes, Dr. Hook
26. Steal Away, Robbie Dupree
27. Biggest Part Of Me, Ambrosia
28. This Is It, Kenny Loggins
29. Cupid-I've Loved You For A Long Time, Spinners
30. Let's Get Serious, Jermaine Jackson
31. Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer, Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes
32. Sailing, Christopher Cross
33. Longer, Dan Fogelberg
34. Coward Of The County, Kenny Rogers
35. Ladies Night, Kool and The Gang
36. Take Your Time, S.O.S. Band
37. No More Tears (Enough Is Enough), Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer
38. Too Hot, Kool and The Gang
39. More Love, Kim Carnes
40. Pop Muzik, M
41. Brass In Pocket, Pretenders
42. Special Lady, Ray, Goodman and Brown
43. Send One Your Love, Stevie Wonder
44. The Second Time Around, Shalamar
45. We Don't Talk Anymore, Cliff Richard
47. Heartache Tonight , Eagles
48. Stomp, Brothers Johnson
49. Tired Of Toein' The Line, Rocky Burnette
50. Better Love Next Time, Dr. Hook
51. Him, Rupert Holmes
52. Against The Wind, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
53. On The Radio, Donna Summer
54. Emotional Rescue, Rolling Stones
55. Rise, Herb Alpert
56. All Out Of Love, Air Supply
57. Cool Change, Little River Band
58. You're Only Lonely, J.D. Souther
59. Desire, Andy Gibb
60. Let My Love Open The Door, Pete Townshend
61. Daydream Believer, Anne Murray
62. I Can't Tell You Why, Eagles
63. Don't Let Go, Isaac Hayes
64. Don't Do Me Like That, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
65. She's Out Of My Life, Michael Jackson
66. Fame, Irene Cara
67. Fire Lake, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
68. How Do I Make You, Linda Ronstadt
69. Into The Night, Benny Mardones
70. Let Me Love You Tonight, Pure Prairie League
71. Misunderstanding, Genesis
72. An American Dream, Dirt Band
73. One Fine Day, Carole King
74. Dim All The Lights, Donna Summer
75. You May Be Right, Billy Joel
76. Hurt So Bad, Linda Ronstadt
77. Should've Never Let You Go, Neil Sedaka and Dara Sedaka
78. Pilot Of The Airwaves, Charlie Dore
79. Off The Wall, Michael Jackson
80. I Pledge My Love, Peaches and Herb
81. The Long Run, Eagles
82. Stand By Me, Mickey Gilley
83. Heartbreaker, Pat Benatar
84. Deja Vu, Dionne Warwick
85. Drivin' My Life Away, Eddie Rabbitt
86. Take The Long Way Home, Supertramp
87. Sara, Fleetwood Mac
88. Wait For Me, Daryl Hall and John Oates
89. Jo Jo, Boz Scaggs
90. September Morn, Neil Diamond
91. Give Me The Night, George Benson
92. Broken Hearted Me, Anne Murray
93. You Decorated My Life, Kenny Rogers
94. Tusk, Fleetwood Mac
95. I Wanna Be Your Lover, Prince
96. In America, Charlie Daniels Band
97. Breakdown Dead Ahead, Boz Scaggs
98. Ships, Barry Manilow
99. All Night Long, Joe Walsh
100. Refugee, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

OK, so I didn't like very much.

Ninjababe has begun what could be the single largest trend in the history (such as it is) of blogging.

As if there could be any doubt:

Today I had what to my way of thinking was a pretty good and provocative Cindy Sheehan post written. But because I have been exceptionally busy transitioning into the new work situation, I only had time to scribble it out in my notebook during a 15-minute break early in the afternoon. I don't yet have a workstation (or even a desk) I can call my own.

I have no time at all to read during the day — not for the present, anyway — so I can't keep up with what's happening. I got home around 11 and decided to troll around for a few minutes to get a feel for what's been happening today.

Good thing I did. As much as I despise what Sheehan says, how she says it and who she says it with, I am not going to kick her when she's down. (Link via Malkin.)

Thanks for the warning, Beth.

In memory of Edloe, the "It Cat" of the 'sphere, Laurence Simon is fundraising/marathon-blogging for the Cat Welfare Society of Israel today.

Check out his main page [rated R for occasional bad language] and scroll, scroll, scroll.

Update: Mycah approves.

I've made submissions to scads of caption contests, the sum effect of which has been to prove to all and sundry that I have a seriously impaired sense of humor, on the creative end.

But even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while.

Wow. I am humbled by the praise.

By training and experience, I'm a network engineer; more to the point, an internetwork engineer. I don't often deal with print servers, mail servers, or servers of any kind. My experience and skills are mainly in routers and routing, wireless LAN infrastructure, wide area networks, and "last mile" technologies. I cut my teeth on modems, advanced to ISDN, and graduated to the bigger stuff. Heck, I've even written two chapters of a book about how some of it works.

Lately, though, I've been doing a lot of work on the side, helping some of my fellow bloggers install software to their sites, do upgrades and plugin installation, and I've even done some site layout and design work. I've tweaked and cleaned up templates for scads of folks.

It started, more or less, with my involvement with the Blogs For Bush website, carried over to the GOP Bloggers site, and now it seems that hardly a week goes by that someone somewhere doesn't ask me for help.

I'm no Sekimori — I can handle Photoshopping and GIMPing other peoples' photos and such, but my "original artwork" skills are sadly pathetic.

I can't help wondering, though, if I could make a go of site design as an entrepreneurial path.

If you blog and haven't yet taken the MIT survey, click the image:

Finally... a caption contest in which I managed to finish near the top.

It's not pretty.

At Absinthe & Cookies, Ith has a contest going: write a jingle for your blog.

Lord help me, this was the first thing I could think of, and now I can't get the tune out of my head.

Set to arguably the most ludicrous song ever to hit the Top 40, "Rock Lobster" by the B-52s:

Military blogger
Barbecue über geek
Has a stray thought and blogs it
It is the TacJammer

(Ahhh... ahhh... ahhh... ahhh...)
TacJammer...
(Ahhh... ahhh... ahhh... ahhh...)
TacJammer...

All I want to know is, where do I sign up to get some background singers?

[And now I have to spend the rest of my life living this down. Swell. Lord knows, the last thing I need is to be forever associated in peoples' minds (not least of all my own) with such an awful song.

Someone needs to make an entry to beat me. I *should* be beaten.

And if I win, I will need to be beaten with a very large stick.]

While engaged in one of his firearms-related pursuits, John at Castle Argghhh! has had a little accident.

I know what it's like to sacrifice my body for the sake of my art. My incident didn't require stitches, though.

Bill Whittle has posted his newest essay, Sanctuary (part 1 and part 2.)

Reality has not been kind to far leftists, historically, as we shall soon see. Like many in the deepest, most pleasant and safe confines of our Sanctuary, they have never had a chance to see – or have chosen not to see -- the reality of human nature up close and personal. Reality told them it was just going to the bathroom, when in point of fact Reality left these Leftists alone at the table without paying the check, and it hasn’t returned their phone calls, either.

I need to read it through a few more times to get the full benefit (and to mine a few more golden Quotes of the Day) but after my first read-through, I can assure you that the time you take to read it (give yourself an hour or so) will be exceptionally well spent.

It's surely kept me up past my bedtime.

Why am I cat-blogging? Mainly because for the past several days, I haven't had an original thought that wasn't related to a certain project I'm working on. What remains of my mental bandwidth is, for the nonce, fully consumed.

Other people, however, are not suffering from such a handicap.

Matt at Blogs for Bush reminds John Kerry about a certain promise he made. [Full disclosure: I'm the webmaster at B4B.]

Mr. Minority presents another tragic example of why we need to control our borders.

Dusty over at Castle Argghhh! notices a kerfuffle at the Air Force Academy. The money quote:

Appoint Zell Miller as Air Force Secretary and sic his near-Churchillian ability to verbally smite the anti-American heathens on the political, academic and spiritual Left....

Kevin at Wizbang presents some interesting numbers on Congressional junkets. So why is Tom DeLay the only one under the microscope?

Doc Russia took a little time off from the hospital to do a little shooting. He says he did poorly, but I've seen him shoot (handguns) — his "poor" would put most people to shame.

Steve H. puts the proverbial smack down on Arianna Huffington, John Cusack, and Hunter S. Thompson all in one post. 'Tis a wondrous thing to behold.

Speaking of smackdowns, Emperor Misha I lays one on the New York Times' effort to regain it's credibility (and subscriber base.) [Potty-mouth alert in effect.]

Maybe I'll have something of my own later, but for now, I got nuthin'.

While Ith of Absinthe & Cookies is on vacation, I'll be one of her guest bloggers.

I know, I know — in the past I've expressed some minor opposition to the concept of having guest authors... but I never said anything about being a guest author.

Hey, friends help friends. That's one of the points of being a friend, no?

'Tis that day once again:

Many thanks to Ith of Absinthe and Cookies for once again coordinating the Tartan Day Gathering of the Blogs. Be sure to drop by her site, say Hi, and check out the many fine blogs participating in the Gathering.

Due to time constraints, I am unable to provide anything original this year for Tartan Day. In lieu of creativity, I'll simply provide links here to some of my past efforts.

• Family history and legends — in which I explain how an American of English descent manages to participate in Tartan Day.

• Men in Skirts — why a guy named "Emerson" claims the Tupper tartan.

• Men in Skirts II — when will kilts be socially acceptable here in the U.S.?

• It Blows — I love bagpipe music.

• Emerson, Boozer — drinks!

• Speaking of special occasions... — more drinks!

• Wee Dram — even more drinks!

It's Spring, and a young blogger's fancy turns to... to... well, whatever it turns to. I wouldn't know. I'm not young.

But I do know (via Spoons) that engagement-type congratulations are in order for FrankJ and SarahK. Best of luck to them both.

I'd like to make an announcement of my own: yesterday I got hitched.

She's a real beauty.

Lovely, isn't she?

Now this is a compliment.

Maybe one of these days I should start charging for my web services. Until then, a kind word or two is pretty darn nice.

This is the second year in a row that my blogiversary has escaped my attention.

Two years... ooooh.

Can't you just feel the sheer intellectual power radiating from your screen as you read this?

In two years of doing this, I've made a number of friends and not, I hope, too many enemies.

I'd particularly like to thank Emperor Misha I for getting me started, and the LoyalCitizens (and many other folks) for their encouraging words.

I had a chat with a friend recently that prompted me to write this.

Just in case the title of this post didn't make my feelings on the matter crystal clear: group blogging is one of the worst ideas ever to come down the pike. Its suckitude is greater than that of a fusion-powered Electrolux. The foulness emanating therefrom is rivaled only by the stench of a Korean rice-paddy in summer.*

Have I made myself clear?

Now, by the above I do not mean blogs which have been group blogs from the beginning (or very near the beginning). Power Line is one such. It made its name as a collaborative effort, as have many others.

No, I refer to the truly awful idea of established bloggers with unique "voices" and personalities that then, for whatever reason, bring in new authors. A good blog rarely benefits.

Case in point: Frank J.'s IMAO.

Frank J. is one of the funniest people on the web. In my opinion, he might be surpassed only by Scott Ott and by David Burge. Often, he is much much funnier.

But recently, for some reason unknown to me, he added other writers. Perhaps it was because he has less time to devote to the site. Lord knows, I understand that. But I don't go to IMAO to read those other people — I go there to read Frank. I suspect I am not alone in doing so.

Anything on IMAO that Frank didn't write merely dilutes the strength of the site. The other authors may or may not be good [and in my opinion, the folks added at IMAO run both ways] but regardless: they are not Frank. I don't care if they're funny or not. They are not Frank. I would sooner wait for a new Frank piece than go to the site and have to wade through the work of people whose scribblings I didn't go there to read.

If the other folks are good writers, they could/should have their own sites. Readers will or will not bookmark or blogroll those sites. They might even get frequent and prominent linkage from Frank and others.

On the other hand, if they aren't so good, we'd all be better off if they'd stop imitating Frank.

All of the above applies not just to IMAO, of course, but potentially to any blog.

There are other sites that became successful on the unique strengths of their respective founders, then added authors to provide more content. On a site that is heavily dependent on the "voice" or personality of its founder this seems to me to be, in almost all cases — how shall I say it nicely? — an exceptionally unwise idea.

Yes, occasionally an established blog might bring in a new contributor who might bring new readers, whose quality matches that of the founder. [Update: see Wizbang, as noted by Jay Tea in the comments, for a successful example.] But the latter would seem to me to be a rare thing. On a blog as unique as Frank's, it may be close to impossible.

Imagine me joining Bill Whittle and trying to match his quality. Sorry, folks: not gonna happen. Bill's site would suffer, and I'd look like a fool for my trouble.

I am decidedly less hostile towards the notion of "guest bloggers" during those times that the host of a site might be away for an extended period, but I still put myself into the "anti" camp. I would no more open my site to a fill-in guest host than I would allow a guest writer to put daily entries into my diary.** This isn't the Tonight Show, where something has to go out over the airwaves every night.

But then, I'm not exactly a successful blogger, and relatively few people visit this site. As such, I or someone in a similar position might be able to get away with adding another author. It might be a decided improvement. [It certainly would be, here.]

But to tamper with a successful formula, be it on IMAO or any other site, is to risk driving away the people who visit the site for the main reason the author started the site in the first place: bloggers want to be heard, and the regular visitors want to hear them.

Don't screw that up.

During my designated lunch period today, I took the opportunity to head over to my favorite woodworking shop to peruse their selection of hardwoods [it's always nice to know what materials are available locally] and to drool over bigger and better power tools than I already have in my garage.

While there, I noticed that the local talk radio station, 680 WPTF, had set up a remote outside a computer store located in the same strip mall, so I wandered over there to see if I could perhaps cadge a nifty logo-ized pen or something along those lines.

Free stuff == good.

Lo and behold, the radio personality on the scene was none other than the local after-Limbaugh personality, Bill LuMaye. Not having spoken face-to-face with a radio personality of any sort since 1979 ["The Baron" Ron Herron, then of 1340 KIST in Santa Barbara and still a big wheel in town there], I decided to step up and have a word.

With a certain answer in mind, I asked him what he did for his "show prep." He told me he reads the local papers (it is, after all, a local show) and mentioned several national publications. I kept waiting for it, but one particular word never passed his lips.

"Blog."

Naturally, I took it upon myself to enlighten him. He was skeptical of the reliability of blogs — as perhaps anyone would be wise to be, not knowing how the feedback loop works — but was interested enough to listen to my recommendations: Instapundit as an example of a linker, Power Line for analysis, Emperor Misha for sheer invective, and Bill Whittle as an essayist. I also recommended NRO and OpinionJournal.

No, I didn't give him my address. Call me humble. But I did give him the URL for GOPbloggers — that's as close as I come to shameless self-promotion these days.

I wrote down the short list of URLs and handed it to him; he said he'd look them over when he had a chance. I'll take him at his word.

But I do have to wonder... how is it that a talk show host of any kind could not read blogs as a source of (or pointers to) material?

I am now, apparently, the Blog Doctor.

I wonder if I can be arrested for practicing without a license?

More to the point, I wonder when and how much I should start charging for my services?

I've been in a bit of a drought here.

Maybe if I watch the TV tonight I might see something worth writing about.

Or I could just go to bed early.

Removing the incentive for death-deserving scumbags spammers to send comment and trackback spam will help ameliorate the problem, but only if significantly huge numbers of MT users hop on the bandwagon.

By "bandwagon," I of course refer to the new MT plugin, nofollow.

No, I'm not going to explain what it does — the folks at SixApart have already done so.

(Via Spoons.)

Why, yes. Yes I have been busy.

The fruits of my labors will be coming Thursday. Watch this space.

For good or for ill, the past week has brought higher-than-usual traffic to this site, which has had the side-effect of reminding me of one of the rude little things people do that irritate me: bogus trackbacks.

I don't just mean trackback spam. I don't get much of that, thanks to MT-Blacklist. No, I mean bloggers looking to increase their own traffic or their TTLB Ecosystem link counts without having the common courtesy to actually link back to something I've posted.

[For starters, my traffic just isn't that high. There's not much benefit to it.]

When I get a trackback, of course I check the link. I don't get so many that I can ignore them.

So people, here's the rule: If your post does not contain an actual link to my post, I will summarily delete the trackback. I don't care who you are. You get no free linkage from me unless I say you do.

Quite simple, isn't it?

And yes, this has happened more than once, with a couple of repeat offenders. It's bloody rude. The Blacklist awaits the offenders if it happens again.

More on the matter from the Commissar.

Since the last endorsement I made was completely successful (I credit myself for Bush's victory), I thought I might make some endorsements for the 2004 Weblog Awards currently under way.

Read, and go vote!