The blog was down for a couple of hours this morning, but the friendly folks at HostGator got the problem fixed as soon as I called it to their attention. <plug>HostGator has been a great ISP for me. I happily recommend them to you if you need web hosting.</plug>
November 20, 2010
Apologies for the temporary interruption in service
Comments Off on Apologies for the temporary interruption in service
November 6, 2010
Creating a more privileged class of commenter
I don’t normally read comment threads at the Globe and Mail website (actually, I rarely get too far in comment threads anywhere . . . too many comments, too little time), so the creation of Globe Catalysts was news to me earlier today. Elizabeth mentioned that certain prolific commenters at the Globe website had been given privileges which makes their individual comments much more visible and (apparently) keeps catalyst comments near the top of the thread.
It must have appeared to Globe management that the comment threads were getting too unruly, so they’ve appointed class monitors or “trustys” to keep the unwashed masses in line.
It’s nice that they chose a name for these folks that allows the group of them to be referred to as “the Cattle List”.
Comments Off on Creating a more privileged class of commenter
October 28, 2010
Help some Canadian bloggers against “lawfare”
Richard Warman is suing several Canadian bloggers (among many, many suits he’s launched), including Kathy Shaidle:
As many of you know, I — along with Ezra Levant and others — are already being sued by former Canadian “Human Rights” Commission employee Richard Warman.
Now my husband Arnie — a.k.a. the blogger BlazingCatFur — is also being sued by Warman, also for criticizing his activities at the CHRC.
Warman is suing for $500,000.
Arnie has already spent $10,000 in legal fees. We’ve put off asking for help for more than a year, but we now are coming to you for assistance.
Among the issues in the latest suit is the claim that merely linking to a “far right website” (in this case, SteynOnline) can be considered actionable.
October 19, 2010
Administrivia: email contact
Rogers/Yahoo is apparently having email issues today, so should anyone need to contact me, use the “quotulatiousness AT gmail DOT com” address.
Update: Yahoo’s mail servers appear to be up and running again.
Comments Off on Administrivia: email contact
September 30, 2010
QotD: Unintended consequences
Sometimes I think of the political blogosphere as a huge commons. An individual blogger can gain in readership or influence by attacking or ridiculing some enemy, but at the cost of making that enemy stronger in the world as a whole.
I also believe that every time the words “stimulus” or “fiscal policy” are blogged it helps the electoral prospects of the Republican Party, no matter what the content of the blog post.
Tyler Cowen, “Department of Unintended Consequences”, Marginal Revolution, 2010-09-28
Comments Off on QotD: Unintended consequences
September 29, 2010
QotD: “Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by malice and incompetence”
I used to publish in the National Post back in the day Conrad Black ran the show. It was a business run with integrity. The last time I had a call from their editorial board I had to explain the Post paid me 40 cents a word. The man was genuinely scandalized — I mean audibly taken aback and offended — when I told him I would not hand my work over to him for free (btw, Adam, how did selling your integrity work out for you? Looks like you got what it was worth).
These days they don’t bother to call. Last week, they took my Margaret Atwood story and ran with it uncredited. They lacked the decency to do something that would have cost them nothing.
[. . .]
I am a writer. I don’t expect to get paid much. But I do expect to get paid. If this country aspired to be something more than a grasping, pissant kleptocracy celebrating third-raters and UCC school ties my work — this blog and others like it — would be understood as part of the real Canadian cultural establishment.
Fortunately, I don’t require their acknowledgement.
Nicholas Packwood, “Neither honour nor courage: The National Post”, Ghost of a Flea, 2010-09-29
Comments Off on QotD: “Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by malice and incompetence”
August 17, 2010
Blogging will be light for a few days
I’m off on a short vacation, with uncertain internet access, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to update the blog regularly.
Comments Off on Blogging will be light for a few days
August 1, 2010
Woodbutchery
Sorry for the lack of postings, but I’ve been busy trying to get back on track for delivering a set of bookshelves I promised for earlier this year. I’m covered in sawdust, and not all that interested in browsing the web at the moment. Perhaps tomorrow . . .
Comments Off on Woodbutchery
July 30, 2010
Blogging will be light
I’m working to a client deadline, so normal blogging activity may resume later today or tomorrow.
Comments Off on Blogging will be light
July 26, 2010
July 25, 2010
QotD: Writing
Writing is a slow and a difficult process mentally. How you physically render the words onto a screen or a page doesn’t help you. I’ll give you this example. When words had to be carved into stone, with a chisel, you got the Ten Commandments. When the quill pen had been invented and you had to chase a goose around the yard and sharpen the pen and boil some ink and so on, you got Shakespeare. When the fountain pen came along, you got Henry James. When the typewriter came along, you got Jack Kerouac. And now that we have the computer, we have Facebook. Are you seeing a trend here?
P.J. O’Rourke, “P.J. O’Rourke: ‘Very Little That Gets Blogged Is Of Very Much Worth'”, John Brown’s Notes and Essays, 2010-07-23
Comments Off on QotD: Writing
July 5, 2010
Spam comments try to be more persuasive
A bunch of spam comments accumulated over the long weekend and it’s noteworthy that there has been a general improvement in the quality of “writing” that goes into them. There are still plenty that are clearly not words or phrases in any human language, but others show not only words but actual comprehensible sentences. The most common pattern is one of general agreement with the topic of the post (always unstated, as these are generated comments, not written ones), along with something like “I’ve added you to my Google Reader/bookmarks/blogroll”.
They’d probably be more effective — in the sense of getting past the spam filter — if there weren’t so many of them following the same pattern.
That’s not a request, I hurry to clarify, just a comment.
Comments Off on Spam comments try to be more persuasive
QotD: Blogging and the spirit of journalism
I believe the blogosphere first truly gained traction in America for a good reason. There is something about blogging’s freedom from the constraints of conventional journalism that captures an American ideal: civic engagement totally free of anyone else’s influence. It is an ideal of a fourth estate hostile to authorities public and private, suspicious of conventional wisdom, and, above all, confident, even when confidence seems absurd, in the power of the word and the argument to make a difference . . . in the end. The rise of this type of citizen journalism has, in my view, increasingly exposed some of the laziness and corruption in the professional version — even as there is still a huge amount to treasure and value in the legacy media, and a huge amount of partisan, mendacious claptrap on the blogs.
But what distinguishes the best of the new media is what could still be recaptured by the old: the mischievous spirit of journalism and free, unfettered inquiry. Journalism has gotten too pompous, too affluent, too self-loving, and too entwined with the establishment of both wings of American politics to be what we need it to be.
We need it to be fearless and obnoxious, out of a conviction that more speech, however much vulgarity and nonsense it creates, is always better than less speech. In America, this is a liberal spirit in the grandest sense of that word – but also a conservative one, since retaining that rebelliousness is tending to an ancient American tradition, from the Founders onward.
Andrew Sullivan, “Happy 4th”, Daily Dish, 2010-07-04
Comments Off on QotD: Blogging and the spirit of journalism
June 17, 2010
New release of WordPress
I’ve been happily using WordPress since I moved over from the original site (under MovableType), and the latest version of WordPress has just been released. However, any software update can have unforeseen results, so it’s possible the site will be affected by some minor (or even major) glitch. Please excuse the mess as I try the upgrade and see what other changes I may need to make . . .
https://videopress.com/v/wp-content/plugins/video/flvplayer.swf?ver=1.21
June 5, 2010
Light blogging today
I’m away from the computer, competing in an SCA rapier tournament near Peterborough, Ontario. Lots of interesting sites to visit over in the right-hand column.
Update: You know, it would have helped if I’d actually published this entry before heading off this morning. I’m now back, bruised yet unbowed, happy in my second-place finish in the tournament. Last time I competed there (before injuring my shoulder and having to take a few years off), I won the tournament. This time, with more fencers taking part, I still managed to claim second. That’s pretty good after such a long lay-off from competition. I’m more than satisfied.
Comments Off on Light blogging today
