. . . I’m baaaa-a-aa-aaack.
Back from my relative’s wedding, that is.
Went fine. (Though the trip up and down was exhausting. Had to pull over by the side of the road to get just a few minutes rest a couple of times in order to stay safe.)
Thanks for all who have sent e-mail in the last few days.
It’ll take me a few days to catch up.
Thanks for y’all’s patience!
I’ve been looking at my referrers and today a lot of people from places like Google are coming across the blog with searches like:
I can only imagine what folks searching for the latter are thinking when they read THIS POST.
In view of past popular searches, maybe we should write a song about Larry the Easter Liger.
("Hey, there’s no tradition like a new tradition!"–Crow T. Robot)
I’ve been looking at my referrers and today a lot of people from places like Google are coming across the blog with searches like:
I can only imagine what folks searching for the latter are thinking when they read THIS POST.
In view of past popular searches, maybe we should write a song about Larry the Easter Liger.
("Hey, there’s no tradition like a new tradition!"–Crow T. Robot)
Down yonder a situation arose which I thought I might ought to comment on in the main blog area as it pertains to how I do things generally on the blog.
Basically, I linked a story that I wrote on St. Patrick some years ago, and a reader challenged some of the things it said. He didn’t provide any scholarly sources for me to look stuff up in, he simply said that some of the things were wrong.
Then a couple of days go by and he writes back and says:
Gezz, Jimmy; I was hoping you’d have proved me wrong by now. If not, then I think your article should be revised accordingly.
Just a thought.
I think this would be a good occasion to explain how I handle such challenges, as from time to time they get made in the comments box.
I operate on the rule that not everybody has to agree with me. In fact, that’s Rule 1. It’s why I don’t delete every comment disagreeing with me or feel the need to argue against it vociferously. I don’t have to have the last word on everything.
A converse of this rule is that I don’t have to agree with you, either, and so we can just politely disagree. I may, therefore, choose to let stand both what I wrote and the comment disagreeing with it and people can make up their own minds about it.
I also often sit back and let others weigh in on a subject rather than jumping all over it myself. I may have an answer handy, but I may let others kick the issue around and have their say. The blog is a community, and it’s a friendlier place that way.
I may eventually respond, but only when I have time. That is a commodity in short supply for me. When I have 276 e-mails in my Gmail inbox awaiting answers, that’s almost 300 new issues I have to deal with. Going back and doing research to deal with a challenge to an old issue may not be at the top of the priority list–especially when it involves an article I wrote years ago and when the challenge is not sourced in a way that makes it easy for me to look up the basis of the challenge.
Also, given the amount of activity on the blog, I may simply forget that the challenge is there, especially if it doesn’t get e-mailed to me per my prior request.
The upshot is that I can’t promise to respond to every challenge. So here’s the compromise that I can offer: Except in Rule 20 situations, you get to have your say, other people get to see it and make up their own minds, and if I’m able, I’ll try to respond at some point if my schedule permits.
Hope that’s satisfactory.
A new product in the Curt Jester‘s ongoing line of Jesterware.
"Due to an amazing new breakthrough in technology using cranial nanobots and an associated software program you will soon be on your way to having a sinware free MOS [Moral Operating System]. Introducing Sinbot Search & Destroy 2.0! Install Sinbot S&D on your computer, swallow the included vial of nanobots, and connect the receiver via the USB (Universal Sinners Bus) your computer. Run Sinbot S&D and follow these simple instructions."
Made some changes to the templates governing this blog last night.
With the addition of new guest bloggers, folks had pointed out a problem that was first reported back when SDG began guest blogging some: Difficulty in telling at the start of a post who was blogging.
I contacted TypePad to see if there was a way that I could include the blogger’s name at the top of a post. (They don’t have all the features I think they need, but they do have excellent customer service. Plug, plug!). I asked them:
The blog visitors are finding it confusing figuring out who is talking in a blog post. They find it frustrating that they have to look down to the end of the post (which may run off their screen) to figure out who is speaking in a post and are requesting that the notification of who posted be placed at the top of the post instead of the bottom. I looked for a way to do this and couldn’t find one. Is there a way to do something along these lines?
They responded:
If you’re using an Advanced Template Set, you could modify your templates to display the author name above the post as well as (or instead of) below the post.
Let us know if you’re using an Advanced Template Set and would like further help in doing this.
To which I replied:
Yes! I am using an advanced template set! And I would love help with this, along with general info about the eldritch nether-tongue in which the advanced templates need to be written.
I’ve only made the tiniest changes for fear of upsetting the cosmic balance of the universe by uttering the wrong syllable in an incantation and having to start over.
Much obliged!
Now, up to now it has be a HUGE ORDEAL to make any modifications to my templates, compounded by the fact that I haven’t had an understanding of the language in which the templates are written. (It ain’t ordinary HTML. It’s a propietary Dark Speech used by TypePad.) As a result, I have only been making the smallest changes to the templates, like my favicon (the picture of me you get if you link me in IE).
But thanks to their help, I got the info I needed to crack the Dark Speech and begin making more neat-o cool, user-friendly changes, such as how to add the blogger’s to the top of each post. I’ve played with that and don’t have it quite where I want–BUT–at least it’s there and I can continue trying to tweak it.
Kudos to the folks at TypePad!
Jimmy asked me to give you a few details about myself before jumping into blogging, so here goes:
You’ll probably learn more about me and my interests as we go along. In the meantime, thanks to Jimmy for his invitation to participate. Stay tuned….
Hey, everyone! Tim Jones, here. Jimmy has taken a fever (not really! He’s OK! Do not send Get Well prayers) and invited me to guest blog on his excellent site, which I am only too happy to do, though I are not a righter. I’m actually working at being an artist.
I was raised a Baptist (in Alaska), but during my college years (in Arkansas) I found myself adrift in terms of faith. Apparently my Guardian Angel thought I was in need of some serious help, because I ended up becoming friends with this philosophy major who turns out to be a proto-apologist and theologian and who eventually is a major influence on me and my family coming into the Church. Neat! Jimmy is also, as you know, a fun and interesting guy with a fun and interesting blog, so in the interest of keeping your interest I’ll get to the point of this post…
Art, as you may know, had a hard slog through the twentieth century. It passed, literally, from the sublime to the ridiculous and beyond, becoming downright destructive and offensive. But, there has been a move afoot in the last decade or so (known informally as the "Derriere Garde") to revive the traditional techniques and sensibilities of the Great Masters and bring them once again into the living tradition of the present. In other words, great artwork is making a comeback. More and more artists and critics are becoming emboldened to air controversial ideas, such as to suggest that artists should be able to draw beyond a third grade level. The word "talent" has even popped up on occasion.
One of the bright spots in this new/old art movement is the Art Renewal Center (http://www.artrenewal.org). Though they are located, I believe, in New York, their main presence is on the Web, where they maintain a vast online museum of master artworks. Most of the images are available in a high-res format and can be purchased as prints as well. The ARC website also carries a wealth of educational material and articles of interest to artists. Good Stuff. Their site has definitely been an influence on my current artwork as well as on the small gallery/studio/art school that I operate in Rogers, Arkansas (I’ll post some pictures soon). I am working on my own website, as well as a blog, but I find I am more comfortable with a brush than with a keyboard. Give me time.
Two caveats about the ARC site: First, it is graphics-intense, so if you have a slower internet connection (like dial-up), you might find it equally slow to navigate around the site. Secondly, this site carries all kinds of images of classical (and present day) master paintings including some Nekkid People. Be Warned!!
To everything there is a season: A time to solo-blog and a time to group-blog.
The latter time is now here at JimmyAkin.Org.
In the last year I’ve really worked hard to try to build up the blog and make it an interesting, dynamic place. Of late I have been blogging at least six posts a day (except Saturday), which–since I write them at night–chews up a good bit of my evenings.
I haven’t burned out at that level, but I know that I need to devote time to additional things and that, eventually, I would burn out, at which point I might do what many bloggers do when life and blog begin to clash: go on hiatus. I don’t want to do that, though, nor do I want to cut back on the amount of activity on the blog, so I decided to deal with the matter before I got to the burnout point and ask some guest bloggers to join me.
Thus far, Steve Greydanus of DecentFilms.Com has done some guestblogging, particularly when I’ve been out of town, and he’s more than welcome to stop by and drop in a post any time he wants, but his own writing schedule of film reviews, etc., keeps him too busy to post regularly.
I thus decided to ask a couple of friends if they might be interested in contributing on a regular basis (at least for now), and they said yes! (I may also be adding some more guestbloggers later.)
The first guest blogger I’d like you to get to know is Tim Jones. He’s a long-time friend from Arkansas, who I’ve known since before I was Catholic. In fact, I’ve known him since before I was Christian.
The second is Michelle Arnold, a colleague from Catholic Answers. Michelle is a convert to the faith and an apologist with an uncommonly sharp eye for detail.
I’ll let both of them tell you more about themselves.
I hope y’all will join me in welcoming the two and making them feel at home here on the blog.
I know they got a lot to contribute!
Down yonder a kindly reader points out that there’s a problem with the comboxes: They aren’t remembering who folks are, so they have to re-type their name, e-mail addresses, etc.
This is a problem I’ve been having for a while, but . . . I thought it was just me.
I got a new computer recently and I haven’t downloaded Mozilla or Firefox yet, so I’ve been using Internet Explorer and I thought I’d just had a setting wrong or something.
Then the kindly reader mentioned he’s having the same problem and a buncha folks chimed in.
Sooooo . . . I contacted TypePad and asked what the deal was. They wanted to know what browser I and others are using since their techs have spotted the problem and are working to resolve it for IE. They hope to have it fixed soon.
Is anybody encountering the problem who is not using IE?