tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85935275378454865952024-03-12T20:49:10.696-04:00Huff's BlogAuthor of official BETTER CALL SAUL tie-ins DON'T GO TO JAIL and GET OFF THE GRID. A lot of writing everywhere. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger127125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-21989411094202446382022-10-26T22:17:00.004-04:002022-10-26T22:17:37.728-04:00I was only kind of kidding...<p> ...About using Blogger again. I mean, it's not hard to learn and the end product looks just fine. WHY NOT?</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-45879737170598470402022-01-21T08:42:00.001-05:002022-01-21T22:59:51.049-05:00Here I go, here I go again...<p> Ironically blogging again on my Blogspot address. </p><p>Hello. It is 8:16 am ET on January 21 in the year of our Lord 2022. The news today is bad. The news is bad every day. It has been bad for two years now. </p><p>Meat Loaf died. <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/01/meat-loaf-mourned-1234917125/" target="_blank">He was 74</a>. Mr. Loaf (born Marvin Lee Aday) collaborated with Jim Steinman to bring young Boomers and Gen Xers an operatic vision of doing it in the car. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="352" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C11MzbEcHlw" width="491" youtube-src-id="C11MzbEcHlw"></iframe></div><br /><p>He also showed us rock stars didn't need to look a certain way. They could sound like tenors meant for Wagnerian godhood but look like a guy from Texas named Marvin and the world would not wobble from orbit and perish in the embrace of the Sun.</p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60077776" target="_blank">The Russians might invade Ukraine</a>. They might not. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/20/russia-hopes-blinken-will-respond-to-kremlin-demands-during-crucial-geneva-meeting.html" target="_blank">But they probably will</a>. </p><p>It is <a href="https://patch.com/massachusetts/marlborough/sub-zero-temperatures-return-how-long-freeze-will-last" target="_blank">very cold</a> where I live. </p><p>A billionaire with personal issues wants to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/20/elon-musk-brain-chip-firm-neuralink-lines-up-clinical-trials-in-humans" target="_blank">tap into our actual brains</a>. </p><p>Elon Musk's Neuralink fascinates me. I wish it didn't, because overall the whole device "implanted flush with skull & charges wirelessly, so you look and feel totally normal" thing he's proposing is as dystopian as awaiting trial for an unknown crime while dressed in a cockroach suit and being guarded by sentient, fascist barnyard animals. At the same time, it points toward something that <i>will </i>happen. The question I have is just how comprehensive such an implant might be. Could someone upload from their mind as well as receiving input? There are things I'd like to get rid of. And if human consciousness could be located in a specific way in the brain, could we simply upload that once our bodies give out? Maybe grow a new self (clone) and download into that? Scary and intriguing. Mostly scary. </p><p>Here ends another random ironic Blogspot entry. I will return later. In a day or six months, not sure. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-74012071530246318792021-10-04T16:51:00.004-04:002021-10-04T16:51:46.170-04:00I’ve gone feral<p> …Facebook is down. Instagram is down. The world is spinning out of control, a belts snapping, cogs and flywheels flying. </p><p>So I went running back to Blogger. Let’s make it 2004 again. No Facebook then. No Twitter. No Instagram. Just uglyass blogs and MySpace and shit. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-20581333720909150572020-11-16T14:31:00.001-05:002020-11-16T14:31:20.997-05:00I wonder, sometimes...why blogger is still here. It works, yes. Plenty of people still use it. I'm still oddly proud I managed to get this blog name.<div><br></div><div>At the same time, Google rarely seems to do much with it and a lot of blogs still look 15 years old. Even if they are regularly updated.</div><div><br></div><div>Seems like there should be a better use for the site.</div><div><br></div><div>Anyway, here is wherel plan to do a lot of stuff, though I will ontinue figuring out a use for this space.</div><div><br></div><div> <a href="https://huff.substack.com">https://huff.substack.com</a>.</div><div><br><div><br></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-12677119877107082542018-11-04T11:06:00.001-05:002018-11-04T11:06:28.066-05:00Now I'm 51<p dir="ltr">The old cliche about life coming at you fast is too damn true. Pretty sure I was 18 just yesterday, driving a 1980 Buick Regal around Nashville, the car packed with friends. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I'm not sad or down about being 51, just kind of amazed. I've outlived two siblings and some cousins, not to mention classmates from high school and college. I couldn't have predicted who or how many on that <u>score</u>. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I did predict some of where my life would go; I knew years ago. But it's mostly been good and bad surprises. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I have another 30-40 years to go, Lord willin'. I don't know much of what will happen but it will, at minimum, be interesting. </p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-23536687275129695362018-10-22T23:45:00.001-04:002018-10-22T23:45:17.317-04:00Stoicism <p dir="ltr"><u>This</u> seems silly as hell on some level but I've been reading up on the philosophy of stoicism. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Stoicism isn't what most people think--it's not about merely enduring adversity with stony resolve. On a practical level it's about understanding what we can and cannot control and adjusting accordingly. There's this lovely practicality to it that soothes my anxiety-ridden nature. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Seeking to understand a new philosophy at 50 is the part that feels so silly, I guess. Yet there is a simplicity about stoicism that doesn't task my supposedly aging brain. And it isn't about enduring hardship but about  finding contentment in the middle of the storms life sends your way. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I need that sort of input. It's pretty fucking cool. </p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-9512194028957783162018-10-19T00:33:00.001-04:002018-10-19T00:34:48.996-04:00I hate being happy<p dir="ltr"><u>Hands</u> up if you're the kind of person who tends to actively sabotage your own happiness. That's me. It's not intentional at all--though who would intentionally sabotage themselves? </p>
<p dir="ltr">I do this to forestall everything that can go wrong. You know, if you anticipate disaster then you aren't surprised when it <u>happens</u>. </p>
<p dir="ltr">At the same time it ends up something like a request for bad results. A self-fulfilling prophecy. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I turn 51 in November. Maybe this is the year I fix this shit. Maybe. </p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-80683349366620835182018-10-11T01:03:00.001-04:002018-10-11T01:03:39.669-04:00It'd probably be funny...<p dir="ltr">... <u>if</u> I just posted random bloggy stuff here <i>because</i><i> </i>no one will read it. I mean, it's Blogspot.  Who still uses this other than single aunts with macrame blogs? "Today, we're crafting an owl..."</p>
<p dir="ltr">It feels nostalgic, thinking about that. Before social media, the constant blog poster was tossing out stuff they would later just tweet. Sometimes that seems like it was a better idea. </p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-13787744386573888442018-09-14T01:17:00.001-04:002018-09-14T01:17:06.972-04:00Still, I keep this space<p dir="ltr">It's <u>1am</u> and I am checking in on a blog I never update but refuse to give up on entirely. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Go figure. Guess it's always good to have a backup plan. Or something. </p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-19329753878836921502017-04-20T00:11:00.001-04:002017-04-20T00:11:43.887-04:00Maybe<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6LbfweNXlUV1SUtE48GNdCYw48IuWgYJ-K6SBQ7Rcr-d8R9HPjYMrjpNBg21IsP9WNVs4pbPzSOCXbXnsS6w6J7DpNlXk7uR4ziSCUa2lAX1I4ERLmIifnKWzqE65FiUlePFyM0MoEdiA/s640/blogger-image--2018936705.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6LbfweNXlUV1SUtE48GNdCYw48IuWgYJ-K6SBQ7Rcr-d8R9HPjYMrjpNBg21IsP9WNVs4pbPzSOCXbXnsS6w6J7DpNlXk7uR4ziSCUa2lAX1I4ERLmIifnKWzqE65FiUlePFyM0MoEdiA/s640/blogger-image--2018936705.jpg"></a></div><br></div>For now... I'll confine personal blogging to this space. <div><br></div><div>I keep meaning to do more but have set up too many places. And the truth is if I just blog for myself I want it simple and dumb. </div><div><br></div><div>Blogger is good for that. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-64907394604424929072017-02-10T23:07:00.000-05:002017-02-10T23:07:02.349-05:00Well, I'm an Author Now, and I have a 2nd Book Coming Out...... And from what I've seen it's sort of an author thing to stick with blog platforms no one actually uses anymore.<br />
<br />
Seriously. George R.R. Martin, the mind behind <i>Game of Thrones</i>? <a href="http://grrm.livejournal.com/" target="_blank">Dude is still rocking the Livejournal</a>.<br />
<br />
Neil Gaiman held onto Livejournal long after it seemed more curiosity than useful content management system. I could go on, but I think you get the point.<br />
<br />
It would also be cussedly impractical for me to use this when I have bought-and-paid-for URLs at Medium and Wordpress. That makes the prospect of just reverting after all the hemming and hawing to Blogger kind of hilarious. At least in my mind.<br />
<br />
Or I may just randomly update this space once every two years. That prospect makes me smile as well. Who knows, in the end? It's all just writing on the internet, which I have learned as a professional writer is the most ephemeral thing, no matter how much you get paid to do it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-8206313344990538162015-01-28T17:32:00.000-05:002015-01-28T17:32:13.065-05:00The Great Blizzard of Twenty-Fifteen, Among Other Things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjadMU3D49YBuotGXl8hb8SwR4Sjf7-UjKaFHdk5mrjjgYHJgqAFmbWU-PHMqcRVtmCZ0m2O6ZLqxe5V7l3uPApmw0t6HxEqUAGbtUcPZ4dX2dm8V9b_Zy5Of6_6mxOT4Er-7Nz4t6JDMQg/s1600/hydrant.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjadMU3D49YBuotGXl8hb8SwR4Sjf7-UjKaFHdk5mrjjgYHJgqAFmbWU-PHMqcRVtmCZ0m2O6ZLqxe5V7l3uPApmw0t6HxEqUAGbtUcPZ4dX2dm8V9b_Zy5Of6_6mxOT4Er-7Nz4t6JDMQg/s1600/hydrant.png" height="304" width="320" /></a></div>
Long-time bloggy blogger and likely difficult person in general Andrew Sullivan <a href="http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2015/01/28/a-note-to-my-readers/" target="_blank">retired from the act of blogging today</a>.<br />
<br />
I never regularly read Sullivan's blog after his interest in the<a href="http://gawker.com/5863453/a-readers-guide-to-andrew-sullivans-defense-of-race-science" target="_blank"> intersection of race and IQ</a> turned my stomach, but I did find myself sympathetic to a few things he said in his post today about the daily grind of blogging. This is all just writing, but blogging for many--I include myself in that 'many'--seems to include an inherent demand for timeliness and relevance, and that can lead to a constant feeling of being on deadline. Even if that deadline is entirely self-imposed, it does cause stress.<br />
<br />
After I'd been blogging for the heck of it for 5 years--for fun--it took off for me in 2005 and became a job. At the time I was probably 60 lbs. overweight. By the time I backed away from blogging as I understood it for a bit (I never "retired," really) in 2009, I was a full 100 lbs overweight. My blood pressure was insanely high and my lifelong problem with insomnia was off the charts bad. I had acid reflux and my asthma, long dormant, had begun to flare again.<br />
<br />
Not having a single-purpose blog of my own to obsess over, just a series of freelance gigs, I was able to focus on losing that weight and feeling better again. I understand Andrew Sullivan's feeling that he'll end up healthier if he steps away from this kind of every day thing. Chances are he's right.<br />
<br />
After reading about Sullivan's quasi-retirement I tweeted a joke about my return to blogging, because this kind of endeavor is really missing the input of progressive, middle-aged white men with underlying anger issues.<br />
<br />
Truth is, though, I really do feel more ready than I truly have in some time to do this every day. I think I'm going to try and have just one rule: not make any rules for what I put here. I mean, there are rules, sure, but I'm going to ease this space into something closer in many ways to what I was doing when I first began blogging in 2000.<br />
<br />
Like, this post started out to be about this blizzard. We had a blizzard where I live, in Central Massachusetts, and it was a sonofabitch. Three feet of snow, full blizzard conditions for 7 hours straight. The Weather Channel dubbed it Juno, which is fine, but I like the old-fashioned Blizzard of 2015. Mostly because such a considerable storm deserves a timeless moniker like that.<br />
<br />
The blizzard began in earnest late Monday and consumed all of Tuesday, non-stop sideways snow drifting to the tops of single-story homes. It was epic, and I enjoyed it.<br />
<br />
I lived in the south till I was 45, and growing up in the south, snow is introduced as a treat. It's always unexpected, and because no southern city has the infrastructure to deal with it, it enforces a respite when it comes. Whether anyone wants it or not, people get a holiday. It doesn't take much, either--in 2011, five inches of snow shut down Atlanta for a solid week.<br />
<br />
You'd think that growing up and eventually having to drive to work in snowstorms would have robbed me of my enjoyment--it did not. And I had one job in one of the few regions of the south that sees real snow on occasion that was atop a treacherous hill. Stressful as driving that hill was in the snow, I still was glad every time it began to fall.<br />
<br />
Today I took a 2-mile walk among plowed-up mountains of snow and down alleys of snow neatly carved by hard-working snow blowers. I normally listen to music when I walk, but this was too dangerous; I needed to be able to hear oncoming vehicles, in case one lost traction and I had to dive in a drift.<br />
<br />
Nothing much happened; I didn't even slip and fall. But I enjoyed it. The silence, the stillness. Everything cold, and calm.<br />
<br />
This was the second historic storm to hit this city since we've lived here. I suspect there are more in store. I'm fine with that.<br />
<br />
****<br />
<br />
That was the blog post proper. If I do have one goal as I write more, it is to pare these down and focus them. So, let's see where this rabbit hole goes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-13433657250775013322015-01-25T11:21:00.001-05:002015-01-25T11:24:14.970-05:00Dark Shadows RETURNS!According to Dark Shadows information resource <a href="http://www.collinsporthistoricalsociety.com/2015/01/dark-shadows-returning-to-airwaves-in.html?spref=bl">The Collinsport Historical Society, Dark Shadows is re-airing in May, 2015</a>. The Collinsport blog links to an even more detailed about the show's rise from the dead <a href="https://willmckinley.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">here</a>, at Will McKinley's blog.<br />
<br />
A basic description of Dark Shadows is it was a paranormal themed soap that ran on daytime TV in the late 1960s and early 70s. Since the show's original run there has been at least one attempted reboot (which I watched faithfully, and found somewhat disappointing) and a movie starring Johnny Depp which was fitfully amusing but mostly a fucking mess.<br />
<br />
My mom and sister and brother watched Dark Shadows when it originally aired, and it somehow entered my consciousness as one of the first TV shows I was really aware of, even though I was not yet in kindergarten.<br />
<br />
I really grew to love it, though, in the mid 1990s. My first wife and I had moved to Nashville after going to school together in other parts of Tennessee and I had a job at the city's public TV station with odd hours. Syfy (it was then The Sci-Fi Channel) aired Dark Shadows reruns daily about an hour before I had to be at work and over time I grew invested in watching the show. I loved everything about it--the bad camera work, the hilariously hideous mishmash of 70s and proto-Georgian styles, the ridiculous storylines... I made it a point to watch and was bummed if I missed it.<br />
<br />
When (Sci-Fi) stopped airing it, thankfully after finishing the show's full run, I truly missed it. Not just the characters (Jonathan Frid's mournful Barnabas, the evil vampire who tries to be good, sometimes seemed like a misplaced creation intended for a show with a much larger budget and better writing), but for whatever imaginary mental respite it provided at a time in my life which was strangely fraught and stressful, in hindsight.<br />
<br />
So I'm glad it's coming back. I'm going to find it and watch it. For the clunking cameras. The disrobing actors who accidentally walk into a closing credits shot. For weird music. For fun.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-15714839356520156222015-01-18T13:01:00.000-05:002015-01-18T13:01:31.076-05:00Suggested Re-Write: "The Jet Set Life of Count Dracula's Favorite Minion--For Now"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqGILz4D8Z8RsuKzYayftDGgoa0n6n4JM553JyO_UfUKszdwl1jHOh5aTHqKSZJFRT_k1usyEttl-LM2TcqSK4za7yQNFGJuCPp73nf5gbu9r_6KhH49k95rDbs-FIDMgIz_vozoY9tFu/s1600/brd.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqGILz4D8Z8RsuKzYayftDGgoa0n6n4JM553JyO_UfUKszdwl1jHOh5aTHqKSZJFRT_k1usyEttl-LM2TcqSK4za7yQNFGJuCPp73nf5gbu9r_6KhH49k95rDbs-FIDMgIz_vozoY9tFu/s1600/brd.png" height="320" width="200" /></a></div>
One Sunday last spring, Brad Kroenig showed up at a private airport near Paris to meet Count Dracula, the esteemed Transylvanian bloodsucker and bon vivant. "The Count will be here 1, 1:30 a.m. for takeoff,” announced a Frenchman in a black suit and tie. “O.K., cool,” Brad said. The man in the suit performed something like a bow and retreated. It was 12:45. Brad sank into an armchair by the window and surveyed the tarmac. He pointed out a large gray hawk of a plane that stood off to the side of the slighter, dovelike jets. “It’s the same one that Oprah has,” Brad said. “It’s the biggest one. It flies, like, the longest journey. A lot of private planes have to stop for gas.”<br />
<br />
Brad knows what kind of plane The Count travels on because he has flown on it often. As the most senior and prominent member of a group of male models often referred to as Dracula's Minions, Brad accompanies him on yearly "feeding trips" to Barrow Alaska and and to parties worldwide. He has been photographed with Dracula so often that gossip blogs have mistakenly identified him as the vampire's chief minion, but their relationship is not romantic. Dracula refers to Brad and the other models that travel with him as his family, albeit a self-selected, genetically pure one. “I hate ugly people,” The Count told me. “Their blood tastes terrible.” [...]<br />
<br />
<i>Inspired by this odious look at the vastly rich and vacuous: "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/magazine/the-jet-set-life-of-karl-lagerfelds-favorite-male-model-for-now.html?ref=magazine&_r=1&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Magazine&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article" target="_blank">The Jet Set Life of Karl Lagerfeld's Favorite Male Model-For Now</a>," NYT Magazine, Jan. 16, 2015.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-251374326353824032015-01-17T19:31:00.001-05:002015-01-17T19:41:39.298-05:00AP: "Teen sweethearts blaze trail..." is some bullshit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkGYYDQKLhQDyOd6fUtBANkZFVVbGczHWxyr9jTYOQk_eS3wia1oagcCwrIfmnfFlL5vEa9W70DMFXiB8VomAhyphenhyphenZCdfhZlOpwCapH6QkA19O3ir09Vl97QEzTSo-vhKkUeMvJjm6B_Oxr/s1600/TEENSWEETHEARTS.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkGYYDQKLhQDyOd6fUtBANkZFVVbGczHWxyr9jTYOQk_eS3wia1oagcCwrIfmnfFlL5vEa9W70DMFXiB8VomAhyphenhyphenZCdfhZlOpwCapH6QkA19O3ir09Vl97QEzTSo-vhKkUeMvJjm6B_Oxr/s1600/TEENSWEETHEARTS.png" height="193" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
How about the media fucks right off with headlines like this? "<a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/efd19c6bc0524b9c9864ba7d083d47d9/police-teen-sweethearts-blaze-trail-crime-across-south">Police: Teen sweethearts blaze trail of crime across South</a>."<br />
<br />
It's the "teen sweethearts" bit that gets me. A couple of teens, one underage, are on a goddamned crime spree stretching from Kentucky to Georgia, so far, and journalists (the Associated Press being just one offender) slap them with a phrase more appropriate to a bobbysoxer and a greaser eating sundaes at a drive-through in 1958.<br />
<br />
Because they're a semi-cute pair of young white kids they get "Bonnie & Clyde" comparisons and horseshit romanticized phrases ready-made for a promo for a Lifetime movie? Call anyone who does this what they are: dangerous, destructive--and self-destructive--criminals.<br />
<br />
Any journalist who gives in to the impulse to glamorize such things would do well to recall Bonnie and Clyde's fate: turned into human swiss cheese, shredded by the guns of federal agents.<br />
<br />
There's no romance in something like this. Only lunacy, and tragedy.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-5710605296599830072015-01-17T18:24:00.003-05:002015-01-17T18:24:53.646-05:00I forget...... What do you put on personal blog posts? Um--my daughter is using my Mac as hers has a problem with the screen. So I borrowed my old Windows laptop, which my son usually uses. I can do that because he much prefers his iPad over the laptop and typically only uses it for a couple of specific things--mainly drawing in MS Paint.<br />
<br />
I'm writing this on the Windows laptop and to be honest, other than some minor mechanical issues with the keyboard, I can't remember why I was so anxious to give this thing to my son (full well knowing at the time that he wasn't as into laptops as he is tablets) and get a Mac. This computer works just fine, even though it's about 4 years old and I had to revert it to Win 7 after a disastrous upgrade to 8.<br />
<br />
I guess I'm thinking that while I love my iPad and iPhone, when it comes to laptops, I may be... a Windows guy, after all?<br />
<br />
<i>Curls up in ball, rocks, staring.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-58707863905130191552015-01-16T15:23:00.000-05:002015-01-16T15:23:25.688-05:00WTF is a blog nowSerious question--but rhetorical. So, like, don't give a direct answer in the comments. Blogs have changed. They've gone from being a primary expression of whatever online to something "omg no one is doing that now, what are you, 80?" to <i>sort of </i>a thing again. It's confounding.<br />
<br />
For example, <a href="https://ello.co/huff" target="_blank">Ello</a> is essentially a blogging site. Doesn't look like it at first. Doesn't even have to be used that way. But it is. And Twitter was called a "microblog" from its inception. While there's something jokey about that word now, it's still a pretty good description of Twitter. I use it just as I once used blogs, only Twitter's character limit and accepted practices mean I whittle away all the schmutz (that's what you're reading here, schmutz) and give the basic gist of whatever I might've devoted some paragraphs to before. In the case of news, which is honestly the only thing I really ever truly blogged about in a consistent way, I usually tweet a link and a brief comment. Tumblr, which I sometimes used quite a bit, was essentially a blogging service, even if it's used for a ton of non-writing-related things now.<br />
<br />
So, WTF is a blog? I guess it's whatever you make it. This was a conclusion it took me a long time to reach. I started blogging in 2000 and developed a very clear set of ideas about what it was, what you did, and how you did it. All that shit has changed in 15 years but some of it is still valid and good practice and I still do it.<br />
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Using what's now called an "old" blogging platform like this one seems somehow quaint now. A singular practice akin to amateur taxidermy or artisanal composting. Yet I follow some people on Twitter who still regularly update their blogspot presence. They're around my age and I don't always like how they do it, but I have really grown to admire their constancy. My wife has a couple of Wordpress self-hosted blogs she's maintained for years now. She may go weeks without new posts, but she's kept the URL alive and always gone back... and I find that almost moving.<br />
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I've been terribly inconstant with blogs, ever since 2009 or so. It's a joke in my house, something my wife teases me about. There are a ton of reasons, of course, the most general reason being that I have severe ADHD and it affects my life in a pretty global way, including my writing--personal (like this) and professional; I've lost gigs as a writer or even turned them down because my ADHD is untreated right now.<br />
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But I have also struggled entirely too much in my head with what <b>writing</b> <i>is</i>. I think I'm writing this in great part because I want to stop that. And I'm addressing that dumb, inconsequential (for a vast number of people) question as to what a blog is because I concluded there was a reason I never borked this blog address, even though I've used it fitfully to not at all--I liked the fact it was here and I had it, if I needed it. Didn't think I'd need it. And actually, "need" is a bad word for a pursuit like this anyway. I just didn't think I had any use for the space.<br />
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Lately, though, I've begun to feel I may.<br />
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So there may be more posts to come. And if so, I'll do it for the practice. To get words in front of people, even if the number of people is small. I'll also do it for the constancy. I grew up in a stable home in a somewhat stable environment, went to school with the same people from kindergarten to, in some cases, college. Once I got older, constancy like that began to scare me. Messages I received from my father, who was never happy about much, made steadiness and sticking with places, situations, even with people sometimes, feel like failure.<br />
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Middle age has a funny way of flipping ideas like that on their heads.<br />
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Blogger has been around for some time and I know how to use it. Google is a weird entity and may blow up Blogger tomorrow, but I'd be surprised if they did, so chances are it will be around for a while. Blogger has been pretty constant. It seems to fit well with what I'm rambling on about here.<br />
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Watch this space. The next post may actually be shorter, and make sense. And it may even be consistent.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-78174522299690941292014-12-28T01:01:00.000-05:002014-12-28T01:08:41.236-05:00See, The Thing is, Rivers Are Pretty Cool, in General<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDeXHCFKg98Aedf96WmdgcKeOXY2ph9zZk6KD88SdkxZTwmIgtsC5c6wtktNGWTNJAG6d1tnvb8jWxU5MY2r9b0lukzLUp28j-JBaZQ520Jv14UKk1uE-Doyaap72LtFYHYWLP0vA4Lc1c/s1600/Adams_The_Tetons_and_the_Snake_River.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDeXHCFKg98Aedf96WmdgcKeOXY2ph9zZk6KD88SdkxZTwmIgtsC5c6wtktNGWTNJAG6d1tnvb8jWxU5MY2r9b0lukzLUp28j-JBaZQ520Jv14UKk1uE-Doyaap72LtFYHYWLP0vA4Lc1c/s1600/Adams_The_Tetons_and_the_Snake_River.jpg" height="320" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tetons and The Snake River, Ansel Adams<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/37355312&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-16627749519079796462014-12-22T21:10:00.001-05:002014-12-22T21:10:17.227-05:00I may.. <p dir="ltr">...start writing shit here again. Or perhaps the only content of this blog for the foreseeable future will be threats , hints, and intimations that I might do that. We shall see. Or not. </p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-21829228933828566362014-05-23T13:58:00.001-04:002014-05-23T13:58:45.496-04:00LOL<p dir="ltr">I've joked about using blogger ironically for a while, but I think I'll do it occasionally for real. I just kind of wish I never stopped using the old blogger style and interface. </p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-87547960218503811402014-05-04T20:01:00.001-04:002014-05-04T20:01:37.490-04:00What's it like to use this now?Just checking. I guess. What if I started using this dumb blog again? Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-13461512887806749772013-10-19T21:49:00.000-04:002013-10-19T21:49:00.070-04:00BlogspotThis is my blogspot blog. I guess because I've been blogging since 2000, when there were basically just three names in blogs (Livejournal, Diaryland and Blogger) I have a weird affection for Blogger and gravitate back to it. I'm also occasionally glad I was able to snag my name as an address. So there's that.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-16256584461434225712013-07-15T21:45:00.000-04:002014-12-04T08:40:30.078-05:00And the lesson here is...I hate to say it, but maybe be wary of dudes who offer "babysitting services." See:<br /><blockquote>72-year-old Lynn Coy Payne and his son, 46-year-old Bryan Martin Payne, were arrested last Friday at their house in Metzger, a town just southwest of Portland, where they both live. They are accused of sexually abusing at least two girls who were under 10 years of age, and the abuse is believed to have taken place at the Payne residence over the last two to three years.<br /><br />“It was not uncommon for Bryan to provide babysitting services for friends and neighbors. The Washington County Sex Crime Detectives strongly believe there are additional victims of unreported sex crimes committed by Bryan and Lynn Payne,” the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.</blockquote>To be clear, the investigating authorities didn't say whether the children who were assaulted by this hideous pair of (alleged) predators were actually their babysitting victims, but it's hard to not infer something like that.<br /><br />I'm just saying, my father always said you should be suspicious of men who say they like children in general (as in, kids who aren't their own). That was probably an extreme view, but the lesson here is, maybe be vigilant of anyone, no matter who they are, who is offering any kind of "babysitting services." Sadly, you may want to be especially wary if the services are offered by a man.<br /><br />[<a href="http://www.bnowire.com/2013/07/15/oregon-father-and-son-accused-of-raping-young-girls/">BNO News</a>]Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-3054353236665353862013-07-11T09:24:00.000-04:002014-12-04T08:40:30.127-05:00Wow: Something's Afoot in Infamous Boston Strangler CaseThe Boston Strangler occupies a unique place in crime history. On the surface, the case was solved, 13 sexually motivated homicides committed by one man. And that man was Albert DeSalvo, who confessed to the crimes. DeSalvo was murdered in prison in 1973.<br /><br />If you follow certain crime stories closely, though, you quickly learn the Strangler remains an open-ended mystery, similar in some ways to the legendary unsolved Zodiac murders. Many who have written about or studied the case believe DeSalvo at the most committed only a handful of murders, still others think he was no more than dimwitted perv who wanted to establish some kind of forbidding reputation as a mass killer. He was never convicted in the case.<br /><br />Now comes this, in today's Boston Globe:<br /><blockquote>Sources familiar with the case told the Globe that investigators have been reviewing evidence in the 13 murders that terrorized the greater Boston area in the early 1960s.<br /><br />Officials are planning to meet with relatives of the women murdered by the Strangler sometime today. They will brief them on the latest [investigative] avenues used in the case at the meeting this morning, sources said.</blockquote>The Globe describes the announcement to be made by Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis and Attorney General Martha Coakley's office today as "major." <br /><br />[<a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/07/11/major-development-boston-strangler-case-will-unveiled-today/gvxJ8Zmrw5buHEvLDgEWWI/story.html">Boston Globe</a>]Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8593527537845486595.post-826156976013706192013-07-05T17:37:00.000-04:002014-12-04T08:40:30.141-05:00Who Killed Alanna Gallagher?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHGosRz017BKGaxhHzKLXrQMX8l8TRbbAa8KNnGVe2_mssP-XvVAUtRhP5rQ3U_PHrye_Gk86FxFLsUEQLIKPEqBGk0qXmnLKZ5BKigFF054hBOePFynBk4rjgzJQRvP9tsjboPQs5to/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-07-05+at+5.10.34+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHGosRz017BKGaxhHzKLXrQMX8l8TRbbAa8KNnGVe2_mssP-XvVAUtRhP5rQ3U_PHrye_Gk86FxFLsUEQLIKPEqBGk0qXmnLKZ5BKigFF054hBOePFynBk4rjgzJQRvP9tsjboPQs5to/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-07-05+at+5.10.34+PM.png" width="218" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alanna Gallagher / Screengrab, NBC 5</td></tr></tbody></table>Some children playing in a Saginaw, Texas neighborhood made a horrific discovery Monday: the nude, bound body of six-year-old Alanna Gallagher. Alanna was found under a tarp, a bag around her head, in the middle of the street. The little girl had been missing for a few hours when she was found.<br /><br />Crimes involving children are hard for just about anyone to write about. For me they eventually became such a deal-breaker they were a factor in backing out of writing about crime as a singular pursuit. I don't plan to cover many.<br /><br />The murder of Alanna Gallagher is so strange and chilling it needs more coverage. National broadcast media seems mostly consumed with the trial of George Zimmerman and backfilling with international coverage of events in Egypt in particular, so anyone wanting more information has to go to regional, Texas based sources.<br /><br />Here is some information from one of those sources, NBC 5 in Dallas, about the case so far:<br /><blockquote>Saginaw police also do not know if Gallagher was abducted, [police spokesman Officer Damon Ing] said. Her cause of death has not yet been determined, and investigators are still trying to establish a timeline of what led up to her death, he said.<br /><br />Police believe the slaying is an isolated case, Ing said.<br /><br />"I can assure the community of Saginaw and all surrounding areas that you're perfectly safe in this community," he said.</blockquote>Pause. Reports so far indicate there are no suspects. Why, then, do police say this is an "isolated" case? A normal law enforcement desire to keep the community calm is understandable, but most police departments these days will be up front if they think a murderous sexual predator is loose in the community. They'll warn locals to lock doors and be even more wary than usual of strangers. Damon Ing isn't saying any of this.<br /><br />Then there's this:<br /><blockquote>According to a FBI receipt of seized evidence, federal agents took a blue-gray tarp, electrical tape, and Wal-Mart plastic bags from a car registered to the victim's parents. The car is parked on the street in front of where the 6-year-old victim lived. Agents also searched the girl's home, where she lived with two siblings, her parents and another man.</blockquote>It isn't the sketchy inventory of items taken from a car registered to the little girl's parents as the final, "and another man" that catches my attention.<br /><br />In this article, no further reference is made to "another man," yet Damon Ing told NBC 5 that the family isn't under suspicion. Maybe that other man is a family member.<br /><br />If he isn't, perhaps Officer Ing was being clever with words.<br /><br />At the moment, make of that what you will.<br /><br />With the bald facts as known it sounds like the child might have been the victim of a sexual predator. If that's the case and there are no suspects, yet police believe local children are safe--the predator is somehow hemmed in, whoever it is.<br /><br />If that's the case, it sounds like the kind of crime the killer might have planned well in advance. That, or it wasn't his first time.<br /><br />[<a href="http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Saginaw-Child-Found-in-Tarp-Identified-214189511.html">NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth</a>]Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0