![]() September 19, 2012June 27, 2012MemoriesI was going through a few old posts and I came on one written about the death of Blogger Rob Smith who passed away 6 years ago yesterday. A lot had changed since then and in some ways nothing has changed, life is still too short. this-is-the-way-the-world-endsThat is the title of a good post over at Sarah Hoyt's blog. I like these words to live by
April 29, 2009Blog Pr and Megan Fox
I think he doth protest too much. ![]() ![]() ![]()
October 25, 2008Another DepartureSince 2002 when I started blogging my blogroll has filled up with past sites that are no longer working for one reason or another. Kim du Toit over the years has provided an excellent voice on gun related issues but he never stopped there and his wide range of coverage will sorely be missed. that doesn't even include the Sunday pictures of beautiful and classy women that he has been posting for a while. On Novemer 30, Kim and his wife Connie will both cease blogging perhaps forever. Go over there and give them a shout and thank them for the years of effort they have put in to make the blogging world a better place. September 19, 2008Undefended cityNew from Bill Whittle Against all of that stand these two. As with all of Bill's stuff read the whole thing November 23, 2007Good Video AdviceContinuing what looks like a theme today is this post from Glenn and while I am too poor to get an HD Camcorder like he has the advice of lighting is spot on.
He also makes a comment about sounds I agree with. When it comes to video sound and lighting are the two most important things anyone can do to improve their product. Content on the other hand is a way different topic and not everyone can produce good content. Now as far as I go I don't really think I look good on camera thought I might do some shooting outside with my little Sony mini DV handiCam at some point. Not everyone can do everythingOne of the bloggers I still check out from time to time is Ann Althouse and while I like her writting and even her pictures from time to time I have to take exception with her latest vlog entry. Now I will try to be nice since I have the benefit of spending last year as a producer for the local Public Access Station learning the trade but this was just so bad in so many ways that I had to say something. Next framing. What is with this plant? Is the vlog about a plant or you? Much too much plant in this picture. Ok flowers but the principal is the same, Props: It seems you have a problem with keeping your hands still but sniffing the bloom all the time is a little too far, unless of course you have some illegal substance on it but since Ann is a lawyer I doubt that. What really got me to write this is when she stuck the flower in her eye. Ann please , Steve Martin you are not. I will say the she at least did a decent job on the lighting which is one of the more important aspects of video so at least she got something right. For a better example try this vlog which was on the sidebar of where Ann's was on you tube. I am not really into rings in lips but she got the sounds right and she know when the bring in props and when to get rid of them. She is also honest enough to label here video as "pretty much rambling nonsense" May 21, 2007reading roomI have been busy reading Bill Whittle's new essay. As always this ia a semi major job so go check it out. Speaking of other bloggers and on a related note the legendary Rachel Lucas is blogging again so I had to reset my blogroll to her old URL. I knew what I was doing by not deleting her entry. Go check her out too. October 03, 2006Life is too short and fragileOne of my favorite bloggers for the past few years has been Rob Smith, who passed away recently and suddenly.. We found out today that a close friend of my wife has recently died of cancer. Love your loved ones and keep them close because we never know what the next day or moment will bring. You might be sitting at work drinking coffee and chatting with a co-worker when a plane comes flying through your window. You just never know. Don't ever not tell those you love that you love them because it might be the last chance you get. July 25, 2006June 27, 2006This SucksMany of the links to the bloggers I read on the right no longer work because they have stopped blogging, by choice. Rob didn't make that choice. Read the following on Gut Rumbles just a while ago. This is Sam. Rob has passed away. They found him at 2:00 this morning slumped over on the couch. He did not shoot himself and no pills or alcohol were found in the house. When I find out anything else I'll let you know. Out of respect for my family please do not leave nasty comments. Damn. June 19, 2006New from WhittleIf you have been waiting, as I have, for Bill Whittle to write something new the wait is over. You can go read about rafts and also catch the liner notes. Get confy first, Bill is not brief. March 25, 2006Guns and Wet T-ShirtsCheck out Chis Muir's last few days of strips as the gang hits the target range. February 01, 2006It could be worseSpeaking of Dax, I was over at his site and saw a reference to this post from a guy having a heart attack while blogging. He seems to have come through it ok but since every one of my college friends is in the zipper club I am quite aware of this kind of thing. The worst that can happen to me at this point is a operation and a cast, the best is a cast. Not very great when going on job interviews but all in all I prefer it to what this guy is going through. December 16, 2005The War over PJ MediaOne of the most interesting things that has been happening in the recent past in the Blogosphere is the creation of PJ Media which was briefly known as Open Source Media. I have been following this story for a while and have not written about it for several reasons (see disclosure at the bottom), but it seems to just go on and on. Not PJ Media itself but the controversy surrounding it. Now as you know if you are a long time reader (both of you) I love a controversy especially when it mutates into a full fledged Blog powered flame war. Not since the Moxie-Moxiepop war have I seen such involvement and venom splashing across the HTML powered pages of so many blogs and their comments. As I have done in previous cases I am going to post a roadmap to bring people up to date. I do this as a public service and because I see the whole thing as kind of funny. There some things connected to it that are indeed not funny and some words have been written that should not have been however in the larger scheme of what is going on in the world ,ie TWOT this is just a sideshow. I mearly report what I am seeing and I will let you the reader decide for yourself what the truth of the matter is. Key background can be gotten from Dennis the Peasant Update: I actually started writting this piece a while ago and as I have said things have continued to move,, much more at Dennis's site. Then you can reac the Wikipedia entries here and here. Steve H. has a post here. Winds of change has a post here One of the key players who has gotten involved in this little comedy oddly enough is Moxie herself. Really she is not a key player but she has become one because she refuses to back down and she has generated more HTML than a lot of the other players. Other Moxie posts can be found (deep breath), here , here , here, here, here and here, though I probably missed a few. Last but not least Ann Althouse is caught up in all this and has post that you can read here and here. Quote of the day:
A Midsummer Night's Dream - 1935 Full Disclosure: November 07, 2005Another one Bites the DustI know I have not been looking at as many blogs as I once did but it truth it is really sad when I do because so many of those who inspired me early have left the scene. Today I looked around at some I have not in a while and that first thing I notices was that michele catalano has stopped blogging. I know things change a lot in 3 and a half years but in most of that time reading Michele's posts was one of the high points. I don't know exactly when she stopped but I think it was pretty recently. Thanks Michele I will miss your posts and look forward to your finishing that novel as you have always meant to. September 19, 2005No Joy in BlogsvilleI know it has been some time since I have made three posts in one day and I want you all to know that I don't expect to continue but I would be very remiss if I did not call attention to the closing of one of my favorite blogs possilby forever. Many bloggers are similar but none was/is quite like Kim DuToit. He came to this country from South Africa and had very strong opinions about freedom. He also knew and educated lots of people, including me, about handguns and rifles. I had the honor of meeting Kim and Connie last year and I wish them well in the future. They are good people and deserve the best. I don't know what the circumstances were that caused Kim to pull the site but you can find out more here , here and here. Jim has posted a link to the archive here.
May 22, 2005March 15, 2005Diversity BSGlenn links to this reply by Jeff Jarvis to Steve Levy's column in Newsweek about diversity in the blogosphere.
I don't always agree with Jeff but he is right on this time. March 06, 2005Video SpotlightBoth Glenn and Roger have posts talking about their various new TV's. March 05, 2005RookiesOne of our local talk radio stations KSEV, last year, decided to go into print online with what they call an alternative to the Houston Cronicle primarily because they were mad at the Cronicle for a number of things and there is no alternatve to the Cron's very liberal point of view in Houston. I think it is great thet is is now thought cool to be a Blog but I digress. Yesterday they did something really cool. The put up this post where they offered: While we still need to talk to some sharp lawyers and nail down the details, if these restrictions come to pass, KSEV and LST are committed to working out a legally sound way in which individual bloggers– of every ideological persuasion and partisan affiliation– can somehow register with us and be credentialed as a press representative of KSEV and LST. Like I said a very cool idea. Well Glenn at the big blog caught wind of this and threw them a link which made their hits go through the roof, something we all know fondly as an Instalance. I was listening to them gush about it on the radio coming home from work last night and the breathless wonder they expressed on the air suggested the title of this post. Welcome to the real blogosphere boys. February 19, 2005Goings onSpeaking of Glenn whose wife is in the hospital, I offer my prayers that she her procedure goes well and she gets home soon. On a sadder note our friend Kim had raised some money to equip some sharpshooters he had met who are now fighting for our freedoms in Iraq. One of them Sgt. Adam Plumondore has fallen victim to a car bomb attack. Our heart goes out to the family of this brave american. Speed of the InternetAs I continue to go through closed posts to comments and pings one by one I am struck by some old posts, July 2003, where I was commenting on what a big thing it was that blogs has been mentioned on a major TV program. If you think back just 18 months ago very few people outside of our circle knew who we were and now hardly a day goes by without blogs in general or specific bloggers (Glenn as well as Ana Marie) are been talked about or interviewed on the tube. We have not quite got respectibilty yet but respectibilty in PJ's is IMHO as amazing journey that we have gone in quite a short time. Rock on Dudes. January 25, 2005Another One Bites the DustA fine blog that I have linked to though never put on my blog roll, The Ville, is packing it up. It had some fine pictures, posts and some good music. January 09, 2005Life is too shortI went to this web site following a link from Glenn to this post. What I found when I looked further was this post. As they say you have to stop and take time to smell the roses, of which I bought two today but that is another post. Update: It looks like some problems with links. I will fix them later. Glenn and Frank both seem to be down at the moment. December 31, 2004Buy this bookWell the elder god of blogging is just a few days behind me but go out and buy Bill Whittle's book anyway. It is number 401 on Amazon and rising. December 27, 2004Reading RoomGreat article on blogs in Fortune that you can read here. Something else that you can read online but you really should buy the book is Bill Whittle's Silent America. Something you can't read online, at least I don't think, so is Hugh Hewett's book Blog. December 22, 2004New Blog - Sort ofI have been a little remiss in not calling the attention to the return of one of my favorite bloggers, Rachel Lucas whose new site is the Blue Eyed Infidel. It sounds like she has been reading Allah too much. Check her out, it is worth the trip. December 21, 2004Thanks StevenA lot of us in Blogdom, myself included, were inspired and owe a debt of gratitude we can never repay to Steven Den Beste. He has retired from blogging likely to never return. The reasons can be found here . Thank You Steven and I wish you all the best. December 16, 2004UnrealI continue to rank impossibly high in the Ecosphere but I seemed to have peaked at 411 and have now fallen to 420. I assume the bug has not been fixed yet. December 13, 2004Dead Pool 2005Lair is doing the Dead Pool again this year and it is not too late to get your entries in for 2005, just go here. Unlike last year I at least made it unto the scoreboard this year thanks to the overdue passing of Yassar Arafat. December 08, 2004RetrogradeWe have developed a saying at work over the last few weeks as things seem to be going awry. Much the same as things seem to be happening to this lady. The cause of our problems and hers is the planet Mercury which is currently in retrograde. Being a former Astronomy major I course have been long aware of what retrograde motion is. It is the apparent movement of a planet backwards in the sky caused by our own planets revolution around the sun. I didn't realize, until it was pointed out to me, how this affected things in a Astrological way. I don't of course believe in Astrology and like any true double Aries I know I am entirely responsible for all my headlong rushing about but this Mercury stuff is starting to make sense. I can't wait until it is over on the 19th and I am so glad that I got my car before it started. December 07, 2004What really mattersWhat really matters to some people is getting a high vote count on the wizbang weblog awards. I guess someone set up a robot to vote multiple times and Kevin is reacting to it. I just don't get it. November 28, 2004Peeps of the Year - BloggersI don't know how Time does their selection but if you are looking for a group that has had influence in the past year I would vote for bloggers. Last year we were pretty much a fringe group. Oh we had been around for a while, even I had been blogging for more than 18 months at this time last year, but every time there was a mention of bloggers on a major media outlet it was a big thing and lots of us wrote it up. Now I am stuck by how many matter of fact references Bloggers get and how many people have heard of us. Even my cousin in NYC who doesn't have a computer knows about bloggers. People like Glenn, Jeff and Roger are regularly of news shows. The reason for this is of course Rathergate, but if it hadn't been that there would have been another incident where the new media broke out to such an extent that they could not be ignored by the dinosaurs at Black Rock and other media fortresses. Whatever it might have been it would have happened and now the genie is out of the bottle. We are strong, we are invincible, I just hope that we don't get so full of ourselves that we become stupid. Note: November 24, 2004Non-Political BloggingI came home early this afternoon and was watching CNBC , which I usually don't do this early, and they featured a Blogger, Queen of Sky whose blog is called the Diary of a Flight Attendant. I guess you could call it non-political except all of a sudden she is in the middle of a free speech fight since her airline(Delta) has canned her becuase of some pictures that she posted on her site. (scroll down) More on this from Cathy Seipp. I am posting more?Well at least Stoney seems to think so. I guess I was posting even less than I thought. I do have a bunch of pictures to put up maybe even tonight. I have four days off who knows what I might do. Have a happy Turkey day everyone. October 07, 2004New EssayNot me silly, Bill Whittle. Since it is probably going to take me all night or maybe two to read it (I am in a mood), just follow the link. I am sure it is as worthy of your time as all of Bill's posts have been. September 14, 2004Pictures from Dallas WeekendI didn't take many pictures this weekend due to being busy talking and listening(mostly listening) to the other people there.
September 13, 2004Great WeekendI had a great weekend in Dallas courtesy of Kim and Connie du Toit. Kim and Connie thank you for sharing your home with me and the other people there and for hosting this event in the first place. Having done things like this before I know they don't just happen but you both made it seem so easy. I did manage to take a few pictures which will appear later. I had intended to do a series of posts last night but I was just too worn out. The new Element performed better than I expected. I am a little confused. When I bought it it seemed to me to be a boy car but when I was getting the bugs washed off by the Plano HS band on Saturday I refered to it as a she. Unlike computers I usually don't name cars though I do identify them as male or female. I will have to see on this one. Also got my new cell phones Friday. Now I can not only have my ringer play more rings including classical snippits but it takes pictures too Update: More on the weekend and one of the wonderful shared moments here on Connie's blog. August 31, 2003John Kerry this morningDiana has the kind of observation about John Kerry that she used to have all the time.
[Listening to: Time Passages - Al Stewart ]
August 30, 2003one less blogspotRachael at Mookie Riffic has moved to MT. August 27, 2003Something only I could doI think I set a new record. I must be the only blogger ever mentioned on Glenn's blog who got not a single referral from it. August 26, 2003WOWI sent Glenn an email mentioning my post on Wifi in Houston Libraries and he actually mentioned it on the Big Blog. Welcome HomeLt. Smash has the story of his return from Kuwait. Good Reading. August 23, 2003Another ex-frenchmanAnother story linked from Merde about a former frenchman now living in the US who went back for a visit. [Listening to: Rave On (live) - Bruce Springsteen]
People confuse me sometimesSometimes, rarely, I misjudge people.
Not content with that she rants that she would enjoy a Dean Presidency, which I think would be a major disaster to not only our defense but our way of life. I must say that I am impressed for in one sentence she not only shows how shallow her support of Dean is but manages to display a level of religious intolerance that I had not before noticed in her postings.
No Diana you don't have to like the president and I cannot fathom why you would pretend that you enjoy his form of Christianity since I believe you are Jewish as am I. Already having displayed a shallowness that her other personality hadn't she goes on to come out of the closet as an elistist who obviously believes that unless a person went to an Ivy League school like she did that their opinions don't count for a shit.
Well Diana since you are a neurotic Ivy-League product of the NY-area I guess we will just have to treat your future opinions for what they are worth, namely the end result of the dysfuntional education that our best universities now deliver. Since you are, as you admit not religious, you can hardly have any idea what motivates the millions of americans who are very or somewhat religious. We should regard you by the words you write and consider all your posts as you have categorized yourself LITE. [Listening to: Lady Stardust - David Bowie ]
August 22, 2003August 19, 2003CommentsI just got finished reading a post on Jane's blog about some things that Joe Conason said. Listening to: Don't Ask Me Why - Billy Joel
August 18, 2003Venomous RoundupNo I am not going to say anymore about this. August 17, 2003My last word on this (I hope)I have to admit I am not very sure about this whole thing between Kate and Joanie. Listening to: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - The Beatles
Continue reading "My last word on this (I hope)"Curiouser and CuriouserAs Alice said. Listening to: I Am the Walrus - The Beatles Update : I was leaving but Dave has a good overview of exactly what happened. At least he is reportiong both sides with relevant links. Nastiness in the BlogosphereI know that some of you were pretty upset with the Moxie/Moxiepop dust up a few months ago but in relation to this mornings latest outrage that was nothing. August 16, 2003StereotypesDawn seems to have gotten herself a lot of heat for this post on the blackout where she reffered to Michael Bloomberg:
I commented at the time that she should have probably left the jewish part out but others who are less tolerant of her style have said a lot worse it seems. Today she writes that some have said that she is an anti-semite and she tries to explain herself. Dawn seems to say that because someone fits into a certain stereotype it is ok to refer to them that way. It is NOT. Continue reading "Stereotypes" August 07, 2003Kate Blew itOne of the nice things about blogging is you get the chance to write whatever you want and make an ass of yourself in front of the entire internet. Kate didn't make an ass out of herself but she sure blew a call when she posted Ten Reasons Arnold won't run yesterday. She has been on a roll recently but it just goes to prove, you can't win 'em all. August 03, 2003More From DianaI am continuing to follow the changing attitudes of Diana Moon.
From what did she and her friends develop misgivings? Perhaps they all thought that we would march into Baghdad and the people would be cheering in the streets? That would have been nice but that only had a 10 to 20 percent chance and only if we had gotten Saddam during the war. No one likes seeing american boys getting killed but this what happens in war. This is what war is all about and if they supported it, as they say they did, they should have realized that this could happen. These are not the kind of people you would find drinking latte at Starbucks. They are animals. They are vicious, depraved killers. They won't go easily. We are going to have to root them out and put them somewhere where they can't hurt others. My own preference would be six feet under but I suppose we are too civilized for that. It is going to be a messy business but we will get it done. In contrast I am pretty upbeat about Iraq because I think things could be going a lot worse, a whole lot worse. Things may still go a whole lot worse but it looks like we have a handle on the situation and it is improving. Diana also has some strange ideas about National Defense.
Where do I start? I will grant that our K-12 school system, especially in our major cities is a mess. Howard Dean is not going to change that. If Bush could get a voucher program through congress it would go a long way to moving in the right direction. The school system is not national defense however. In some ways it is more important than national defense but it has taken us a long time to let it get as screwed up as it is and it is a problem that we are not going to solve overnight. Fixing the school system, not just K-12 but the colleges also is going to be a major factor in the future direction of this country. Real national defense is concerned with breaking things and killing people. For this Howard Dean would be a disaster. The world is a messy place, to quote Rush's Undeniable Truth of life #6: Ours is a world governed by the aggressive use of force. This is not something Howard Dean understands. Saddam understands this, so does Bin Laden. Every two bit dictator knows this. The mullahs in Iran and the generals in North Korea understand this. The Chinese understand this, that is why they are continuing to build missiles that can reach Taiwan. When Dean was on Meet the Press last, he didn't have a clue. When Russert asked him about the military he gave some lame answer about his advisors. Who are these advisors? Let's hope that Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez is not one of them. I recently watched her on TV and was amazed that a woman from California could think herself an expert of military matters just because she was elected to congress. She is the kind of person, and so is Dean, who would overule generals on tacitcal metters that they have no business being involved in. Bush at least seems to have enough sense to let the generals do their jobs. The final problem I have with this post of hers is this idea of a "cognitive elite". We have plenty of "cognitive elites" already. What we need is basic citizens who know how to read. Who know enough to be productive members of society. Who know who the Founding Fathers were and what they did. We need people who know what is in the constitution. We need people who know that the purpose of the bill of rights is to limit what government can do. We need people who can work together to build a better America for our children and our children's children. August 01, 2003Diana, we Thought We Knew YouDiana, we thought we knew you July 24, 2003We also killed a kidWe also killed a kid Local boy makes it bigLocal boy makes it big July 14, 2003Blogs in the MediaBlogs in the Media . I don't read newspapers, the writer who writes for one is certainly biased in that direction. We will find that blogs are a read indeed. Sometimes preferable to newspapers. Current Song: Brass in Pocket - The Pretenders July 13, 2003Mookie RifficRachael has written me that she didn't mean to remove me from her sidebar and the fact that she changed commenting facilities is why my comments were lost. She is a high school sophomore in Va. I hope she keeps posting because my own daughter is starting high school this year and I will need to know as much as I can about what goes on there. This is actually my second round with a teenage daughter. I managed to live through my step-daughter's teenage years even though we were not married then and she turned out pretty well. I can only hope that is has better prepared me for the next several years. You win some you loseYou win some you lose some July 11, 2003Crawly AmphibianI know this is probably a mistake but I have moved up in the Blogosphere Ecosystem to 1274th into the category of Crawly Amphibian. That does not mean I am getting more hits but I was getting tired of being a Flippery Fish. By traffic I came in at 484, not bad. July 10, 2003Return of Diana Letter fromReturn of Diana July 05, 2003EcosystemEcosystem New WhittleNew Whittle June 20, 2003Local blogger makes the bigLocal blogger makes the big time June 18, 2003Another Mover Silflay hraka hasAnother Mover June 17, 2003He's Back. The Vodkapundit, StephenHe's Back. |
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