October 3, 2003
So, naturalists observe, a flea Hath smaller fleas which on him prey And these have smaller still to bite 'em, and so proceed ad infinitum. Thus every poet, in his kind, Is bit by him who comes behind. -- Jonathan Swift I love this quote, and I've had it memorized since I first read it in Tom Burnham's Dictionary of Misinformation. In fact, I think it explains blogs and their popularity, and in some degrees their incestuousness. Glenn Reynolds or Andrew Sullivan read a news story, and they post a commentary, and then other blogs post commentaries to their commentaries, and so proceed ad infinitum. Don't get me wrong - I think that's terrific! We need an open market for political discussion. Hash things out to the nth degree. Argue, bicker, and scold. The trick is to keep your head, check your assumptions, and expose yourselves to differing points of...
Glenn's right -- we should all be reviewing actual news sources for our blogs. But let's all go to Instapundit first just to piss him off....
October 7, 2003
Still haven't gotten a link from Best of the Web Today -- I'll keep trying. They did mention my name in the credits, though, and a lot closer to the top than ever before ......
How cool is it to have a comment on your blog from Chris Muir, the artist behind Day By Day? It's this cool! Thanks for dropping by, Chris! I am so jazzed ... now go read Chris' comic strip, and you'd better read the entire archive....
October 10, 2003
Too often, blog readers tend to focus on those sites where they expect to find no disagreement with their own opinions and prejudices. When I started this blog, I took a quick look around at a few other TypePad blogs, and I stumbled across the TwilightCafé. (Literally stumbled, by the way; I still have a Band-Aid on my elbow.) The next day, Alicia was the first person to post a comment on one of my posts, and I added her to my blogroll, and now she's done the same for me. My first link! We probably don't agree on a lot, as Alicia acknowledges: Since I started this weblog on TypePad, I have found lots of interesting people's sites. I have finally found a conservative (that is safe to say, I believe) whose arguments are well thought out and logical. (I am sure there are more out there, but I...
October 11, 2003
OK, now it's confirmed ... I'm 62% good: ... which means, of course ... These calculations come to me via the Gematriculator, using arcane mathematics to analyze word and phrase patterns on the website. How does it work? Haven't got a friggin' clue, even (and especially) after reading through the explanation on their website. Thanks to Alicia over at Twilight Café for the link! (I'm 6% more good than Twilight Café ... just for the record.)...
Here's how other blogs rate on the ol' Gematriculator: Instapundit: 74% good Daily Dish (Andrew Sullivan): 73% good Power Line: 71% good Meaningful Media: 70% good (how did Steve get ahead of me??) hmmm ... I was on board with this until I saw Steve's ratings ... lemme see who else scores high: NakedJen: 65% good (ahead of me, too!) Merde in France: 62% -- a tie! But something tells me that this is not terribly accurate. For instance: Michaelmoore.com: 82% CBC.com (Pat Robertson's website): 96% good These two are deal-killers, I'm sorry to say ......
October 14, 2003
Here's an interesting article on blogs, and the blogging bloggers who blog them. I saw this yesterday at Amygdala but didn't get a chance to post on the article. Like Amygdala, I am in the 1% demographic, although I just started there. Not to rub it in or anything. Perseus Development Corp. estimates that there are 4.12 million blogs out here in the blogosphere, but 2.72 million have been abandoned, either temporarily or permanently. Over a million of these were one-day wonders. (Guess I've surpassed that threshold; I believe this is my 140th post.) There's lots of interesting data here for bloggers who like a bit of navel-gazing....
October 15, 2003
I'll be making some tweaks tonight -- the three-column format doesn't quite work for me, so I'll be playing around with some other options ... let me know what you think!...
OxBlog has an essay which, unbeknownst to Oxblog, expands on my post yesterday about name-calling and elevating political discourse: Are people really so sure of themselves that they simply cannot acknowledge that anyone who disagrees could be intelligent? Have they no humility whatsoever? Of course we all think we're right -- if we didn't think we were right, we'd change our opinions until we did. Maybe I'm just naive, but it really does amaze me when people claim that everyone who disagrees with them (on topics where general opinion is relatively divided -- I'm not talking about largely uncontroversial opinions like "slavery is wrong") is either malevolent, stupid, or both. This attitude exists in a lot more places than in the blogosphere, although Josh Chafetz understandably focuses on that area of debate. I mentioned talk radio in yesterday's post, of course, but it wouldn't exist in the blogosphere or on...
October 16, 2003
It looks like HostingMatters has crashed for some unknown reason, and some major blogs seem to be down with them. Instapundit is definitely one who is affected -- you can hit the backup site here, but so far the only post is from Glenn confirming that the servers are down. Power Line isn't responding, and neither is Little Green Footballs or Dissident Frogman. I hope the problem gets corrected soon, so I can continue to avoid commercials between innings. (Score so far: Red Sox 4, Overhyped-Babe-Curse Bronxies 2.) If nothing else, take a look at James Lileks today, who's in fine curmudgeonly style. He's ranting about Kill Bill and rooting for Agent Smith. Ortiz just went yard on David Wells' first pitch, so it's Red Sox 5, Crushing Monotony in Pinstripes 2....
October 17, 2003
It's not often that you run across people who do thoughtful things just because they're truly nice people. I'm lucky to have "met" Alicia through our efforts at blogging on Typepad. Alicia runs the excellent and intriguing Twilight Café, where I encourage you all to visit any chance you get. She's been kind enough to surprise me with a new banner, which is now posted proudly at the top of my blog here. Isn't that great? Thank you, Alicia -- I feel like a real blog now!...
I'd like to give a salute to any visitors being referred from Hugh Hewitt's excellent story on the General Boykin/LA Times scandal. Welcome aboard!...
Over the weekend, I'll be testing some design changes, some of which you may have already seen -- I've switched fonts from Palatino to Arial in my posts for better readability, and to Geneva on the sidebar items to be able to read them at all. This makes the page longer, but I've cut the numbers of days displayed to three now. I will be switching between two- and three-column layouts and two different, very cool Alicia-designed logos, so be sure to let me know what you think!...
October 18, 2003
I've found a new neighbor, or rather she's found me! Brainstorming is a fairly new Typepad blog, with an easygoing nature but some smart commentary. Definitely drop by and check out what DC's brainstorming on now!...
October 19, 2003
This is the 200th post for The Captain's Quarters, and today I'll be trying a new design. If you've seen the prior design (with the other Alicia-designed logo), let me know which one you prefer. Just drop a comment onto this post and I'll be reviewing them as they come in....
October 20, 2003
Okay, I know I'm a novice at the whole blog thing, but what the hell is a Clarkbot? a. It's a cybernetic Clark decoy sent out on the campaign trail as a security decoy. (Would anyone be able to tell the difference?) b. It's a wind-up toy from a merchandising system gone mad. c. It's a blog program, designed to search the Internet, never sleeping, never stopping, for blog references to Wesley Clark ... it cannot be reasoned with, it cannot be reprogrammed ... it is relentless ... Yes, I guess it's Option C. If you follow the link back, you'll see two of my earlier posts about Clark listed on his campaign blog. I hope they enjoy the posts, but something tells me they won't. Hell, the second one wasn't even about them, it was about AP's inability to spell caucuses correctly....
Note to Fareed Zakaria: stifling free speech isn't the American way. That tactic is employed by others. Interesting to note where the DoS attacks originated. Do you suppose this is in retaliation for General Boykin's churchgoing activities?...
October 21, 2003
The Blogosphere's most prominent citizens are back on line after another DoS attack from Islamofascists. The outage affected not just Power Line, but Hosting Matters and all of the web sites hosted by that company, a group that includes Insta Pundit, Little Green Footballs and many others. ... If Americans' news sources were limited to the network news and major daily newspapers, the Islamofascists would have a much better chance of winning the war. No doubt their first choice would be to blow up Fox News and various talk radio stations, but that is much more difficult than launching remote attacks on web sites from locations like Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Hence their attacks on the blogosphere. Power Line makes a good point about the value of the blogosphere, and why the Islamofascists target sites like Hosting Matters. I'd expand on Power Line and say that, based on the reporting...
I've decided to pledge my Web loyalty (bloyalty?) to Instapundit and join the Axis of Naughty. There's no sense in spending this much time and effort on something if I can't be part of something divisive, after all. As Gaeilge, I'll add: Sin Instapundit an blog is fearr sa domhain, gan dabht! In the meantime, now that I've picked sides, I've also entered the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem, and I've entered into a contest for new bloggers on the site. I had to pick a post to feature during the contest, so I picked my post on Fareed Zakaria's column on Boykin, but I probably should have picked the one on German husband day care. [sigh] Anyway, if you think about it, do me a favor and link to the Zakaria post on your own blog, even if it's to say what a dink I am for having that opinion....
Alicia pitches in again with a post about my shameless begging for trackbacks in the Truth Laid Bear contest. If you haven't visited the Twilight Café yet, go now. She designed my terrific logo (and another one, too, that I'm going to fit in here somewhere). Check out this post, too, at the Twilight Café. Who was your choice?...
October 22, 2003
If you scroll down through my Miscellaneous Links, you'll notice that I've evolved from an Insignificant Microbe to a Slimy Mollusc in the Ecosystem. Always the optimist, I hope to be some variety of vertebrate by the weekend. (It would, of course, be a first for me.)...
October 24, 2003
I've added content to the third column again -- I just couldn't leave it alone, could I? -- in order to list the posts I think best represent Captain's Quarters. The latest post is listed first, and goes all the way back [all the way back being 3 weeks!] to my first post, which explains the slogan that Alicia included in my logo. Now, if I could just figure out how to configure links in Typepad to open a new page ......
Moving on up ... moving on up ... to that upright primate ... on la-and (oh yeah) ... I've progressed from Insignificant Microbe, to Slimy Mollusc, to Flippery Fish, and now I'm a Crawly Amphibian! [sniff] My parents will be so proud of me! Please note that if you want to see me evolve into something remotely mammalian, you'll need to keep linking to my posts and visit the Captain's Quarters regularly! If I wind up being plankton, it'll be on your heads ... eww....
October 26, 2003
I've managed to graduate to a land-based animal in the TTLB ecosystem. Thanks to everyone who's linking to my blog or my posts! It appears that Irreconcilable Musings and Demosophia are going to be competing for the win at the New Blog Showcase, where my post on Fareed Zakaria's column trails significantly. Both blogs are terrific and have excellent posts. Make sure you read them, and the rest of the blog entries too....
If you get a chance, check out Meaningful Media MediaBlog, v 2.0. Steve's doing a nice job in his redesign. UPDATE: It's also in the Comments here, but don't forget to check out Steve's other blog, Indypundit, which "is more or less what Meaningful Media used to be, except with more of a cultural/newsy focus"....
A cordial welcome to all Power Line readers! I hope you enjoy Captain's Quarters, and I look forward to your comments. If you like what you read, I hope you'll blogroll Captain's Quarters. Big thanks to Big Trunk for the mention!...
October 29, 2003
Captain's Quarters has been blogrolled by The Politburo Diktat, a very clever and humorous blog with tongue impaled in cheek. Stephen, aka "The Commissar", manages to sound like a [mild?] version of International ANSWER, which in less capable hands would be frightening. Check it out!...
Tonight I'm finishing up with my 300th post in just under 4 weeks, and instead of posting on current events, I'm going to just talk a little bit about why I blog and some of the experience of Captain's Quarters and the people I've "met" as a result. Like most bloggers, I suspect, I love to write and have written for years, in several different formats. I've written short stories and three novels (all unsold), as well as quite a bit of technical documentation when I worked in the defense industry in the 80s. What I hadn't written on a regular basis was commentary, unless I was worked up enough on an issue or about a particular article to fire something off. I've written several letters to local papers, about half of which wound up being published, and even had a couple of longer-form commentaries published in the Star Tribune....
October 30, 2003
Colskee, a Londoner blog, mentions the latest crime wave in urban Britain: phone jacking? People pedalling up on bikes to relive unsuspecting folk of their mobile phones. This has been an increasing problem in London, especially amoungst younger teenagers (don't even ask me why a schoolkid would need a mobile phone). It's a short post, and Colskee wonders if the cell-phone manufacturers aren't encouraging this by including a lot of teenager-friendly options on the phones. Anyone hear of this in the US?...
I've decided to enter the Carnival Of The Vanities for next week, being hosted by Wizbang of the Axis of Naughty. I'm submitting my post on the Brad Pitt-Jennifer Aniston peace movement, as it's one of my favorites so far. This week's Carnival is up at Blogger Rabbit, with a special introduction offering readers a unique opportunity -- unique, that is, unless you have an e-mail address, in which case you've probably had this opportunity come your way once a month for a year. Here are a few I liked from this week's Carnival ... Catfish 'n Cod waxes poetic about the Rumsfeld memo ... The Smallest Minority contributes a well-written broadside against the war on drugs ... Kiril at Sneakeasyjoint explains why he's crossing the picket line in Southern California to get his shopping done ... Blogfriend DC at Brainstorming cajoles the Republicans into getting active in supporting Justice...
November 1, 2003
Brant at Strange Women Lying in Ponds, a most excellent blog, would like to get blogrolled at Little Green Footballs: Let's talk turkey. The reader who gets SWLiP blogrolled on LGF will win a special prize: The Al Jarreau CD of his or her choice. So if anyone reading this has any influence with the guys at LGF, let's see if we can't help Brant out. And while we're at it, maybe someone can get me a mention there too, or a link over at Instapundit. I'll cough up a Jim Croce double-CD album for anyone who can get me blogrolled at either place. Between Brant and I, we'll rescue the RIAA singlehandedly. Well, doublehandedly, at least....
November 2, 2003
A collection of links to interesting posts around the Axis of Naughty and other great blogs this morning ... Michelle at A Small Victory wonders how to determine when ululating Arabs is a good or bad sign ... and also has a sane look at this morning's bad news in Iraq which puts it in perspective ... Wizbang has the Howard Dean Metrosexual Quiz ready for you (be sure to read the comments!) ... Samizdata has an example of left-wing hypocrisy in education policy in Britain, but we've seen it here before, too ... Kate over at Electric Venom (cool site!) is angry about the dilution of her Social Security money ... Roger Simon ponders the war of civilizations ... DC at Brainstorming wonders about the world-changing power of the new Apple computers, but over at Jessica's Well, the concern is over the hard-drive-changing power of their new operating system...
SurlyPundit has a note on her blog showing her Political Compass which gives a more sophisticated indication of her politics than simple "left-right" designations. Her graph point is 7.25/-3.69, which indicates significant rightist economics and libertarian philosophy. My numbers are more centrist: 4.75/-0.56. Quite frankly, I'm a little surprised; I would have expected more libertarian tendencies than that. SurlyPundit has an intriguing blog; you should check it out....
November 3, 2003
I didn't notice this until after I'd been on a while, but I've evolved further, from Slithering Reptile to Flappy Bird in the TTLB Ecosystem. Thanks to everyone who's been linking back here -- and if you haven't yet blogrolled me, let me know if you do so I can make sure I've blogrolled you in return!...
November 4, 2003
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler honors a deserving QandO for its excellent fisking of Kucinich.
November 5, 2003
Wizbang has the Carnival of the Vanities up and running. I'll post up some links later on in order to cast my votes. Don't forget that I've entered this post as my first-ever entry!...
Here's my first vote for this week's Carnival entry -- Blackfive's deep commitment to the French boycott: The biggest fight that I have ever had with my wife in over six years of marriage was over my personal French Boycott. She had gone shopping and brought back some wine which happened to be made in France. She opened it before I knew what it was, and I asked her to pour it down the drain. Of course, my wife knows me well, and she knows how much it would kill me to watch good booze destroyed. But, we went back and forth over it and she finally poured it down the drain, looking me in the eye the whole time. He'd get my vote even if he wrote atrocious posts just for going through with that, but fortunately, he's a good writer. Check out his blog while you're there. And...
November 7, 2003
Electric Venom has its weekly snark hunt posted ... and the snark are running! Venomous Kate was kind enough to include one of my entries this week. But there's lots more snark to hunt, so be sure to go there and check it all out. Enjoy!...
I've decided to cast a vote in the TTLB New Weblog Showcase for Mr. Cranky and his excellent Halloween story: I am always amazed at how nicely the boy is treated as he goes trick or treating. This year he wore a Hulk costume - you know the one, it has the foam muscles. At one place, the lady of the house gave him a candy after the usual holiday exchange, then squeezed his foam arms and said, "Wow, you're strong!". My boy grinned from ear to ear under his mask. Read the whole thing, it's a great piece of writing. (I have a neighbor like A.H., too ... I wonder if they're related?) I've added Mr. Cranky to my blogroll, too....
November 8, 2003
You say it's your birthday ... Happy Birthday to ya!...
November 10, 2003
For those of us who enjoyed Cori Dauber's prolific and excellent posts while guest-blogging at the Volokh Conspiracy, she's back at her home blog now. I've blogrolled Rantingprofs; be sure to add her to yours....
November 11, 2003
Instapundit, Power Line, and Little Green Footballs all are off-line this morning -- could this be another deliberate DoS attack on Hosting Matters? It could simply be a technical problem, but this is happening quite a bit lately. Don't forget that Instapundit's backup site is here; if this is a DoS attack, Glenn will probably post a message there soon. I don't know of any backup site for Power Line or LGF. UPDATE: Although I can't access Instapundit or the other Hosting Matters sites, they do seem to be up and running, as I am getting a lot of referrals from Instapundit this morning about the Rock the Vote story. Welcome to all of Glenn's faithful readers (which includes me), and I hope you enjoy your visit....
Meryl Yourish, another excellent blogger, fisks Michael Moore, albeit reluctantly: I almost never write about Michael Moore, because I find him a tiresome windbag. I saw him on The View a few weeks ago, and even the ladies of the ABC morning were fed up with his lying and dodging of questions. I have never seen a harsher interview on that show. They don't have transcripts available, but CNN's Kara Henderson asked the tough questions. But once she gets started, she gets rather enthusiastic. A sample: Let's think about why so many Europeans would have passports, and why so many Americans do not. Let's go look at a map of Europe. Okay, now let's go look at a map of America. Do you see something similar about the two maps? Right! Many European nations are the size of American states! Why, if you're German and you want to vacation in...
November 12, 2003
Dead Ends has the new Carnival of the Vanities up and running, with a distinct Georgetown flavor: HOYA SAXA CARNIVAL! My entry on the overwhelming police response to raid a swinger's party is posted there, although I put my real name to it, instead of the blog name. I'll update this post later tonight on my faves from this week. UPDATE: As promised, here are my votes for the Carnival winners: Mark Pierce at Earthly Passions fisks it up on Newsweek's article on Dick Cheney. (He's on my blogroll now!) Porphyrogenitus has a lengthy, detailed deconstruction of the Clark plan on Iraq, and how it flies in the face of historical precedent and common sense. Blackfive posts a letter describing the inspiring events surrounding the memorial and burial of American heroes lost in battle. Bring a Kleenex. Outside the Beltway discusses why we all can't get along, refuting Matthew Yglesias,...
November 14, 2003
In honor of Venomous Kate's declaring today G-day, here are a few Gs for you:
November 15, 2003
A few thank-yous to some very nice people in the blogosphere today ... First off, thank you to Venomous Kate at Electric Venom (a daily read for me) for including me on both the Snark Hunt and The Letter Of The Day Is H Big Trunk over at Power Line included me in today's excellent posts by linking back to my comments about Zell Miller and the end of the civil-rights movement. Merde in France has been sending readers over to me all day long. If you want a window on Europe, especially France, MiF is a stylish must-read. Sometimes I try reading the posts in French, but my high-school French hasn't been able to keep up ... Thanks again, folks!...
November 16, 2003
The Commissar announces the results of a series of investigations of blogosphere denizens. Lucky for me, I've only been demoted (to Corporal? Bleah), and dishonorably discharged. I could have been purged in a more Stalinist manner, like a few others at the Politburo Diktat. Go visit the Commissar and be sure to have your confessions ready....
November 19, 2003
Random sightings while taking a stroll through the blogosphere this evening ...
November 20, 2003
I noticed that I have moved up the food chain again, going from Flappy Bird to Adorable Little Rodent in the TTLB Ecosystem. Captain's Quarters is currently ranked in the mid-700s, and we're averaging about 300 hits a day. (At that rate, I'll need 28 months to hit Venomous Kate's latest milestone, and she did it in 8 months!! Way to go, Kate!) Thanks to everyone who's blogrolled me, or has been linking to my posts!...
November 23, 2003
Congratulations to Big Trunk, Hindrocket, and Deacon for going over 1,000,000 hits! Power Line is one of the best blogs on line, and is definitely among my daily must-reads. They've been kind enough to mention me on more than one occasion, for which I am very grateful. Gracious, intelligent, and powerfully good writers -- small wonder they've been as successful as they are. Congratulations, guys, and I'll bet your next million comes in half the time....
For those of you who may be new to blogging, or are considering starting your own blog but aren't sure how to build a readership beyond your own family, here's some good advice from the Commissar at the Politburo Diktat: As great Revolutionary Ringo Starr sang "You gotta pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues, And you know it don't come easy." You must work to build Revolution. Seek out intelligentsia. Exchange Blogrolls. Comment on posts. Trackback to posts. ... Find "comrades." (No, not in hackneyed, satiric sense of Commissar, in real sense.) A network of blogger/readers. Blogrolling? That only first step. Many have 100, 200 blogs on Blogroll; not all of them are comrades. "Comrades" are bloggers, maybe of roughly same size, who read your blog, maybe comment now and then, mention/link to your blog in posts, and maybe exchange emails. This advice is easy if you...
November 24, 2003
George Bush freed almost 50 million people in two years and deposed two of the worst totalitarian regimes in recent decades. Ted Rall advocates the political system which resulted in the oppression of hundreds of millions, the slaughter of millions, and Dean wants us to know that he's proud Ted Rall supports him. That's enough for me.