Bummed By Gravity

My favorite Canadian blog has gone dark. Bound By Gravity was my window into, well, whatever Andrew Anderson was up to, there in his Frozen North igloo. I was his first commenter, in fact. Now I come back, after a prolonged absence, and find a falcon image. Andy, couldn't you even have left the archives up, dude? Soar in peace, anyway.

Protein Wisdom: Jeff Goldstein's still in the meat space

I was a guest blogger at Protein Wisdom for much of this past autumn and winter. Jeff finally made noises like he was resuming control, and so I made a modest farewell and went back into the comments. But, he left us with the keys to the place, and so I like the others have resumed posting our wannabe spew alongside his pearls of warped wit.

Waiting for the advent of the New Advent blog

I discovered The New Advent Blog over at the online Catholic Encylopedia last autumn. And what happened? What always happens: the proprietors are now offline on an around-the-world bike hike, or some damn thing. *sigh*

So long to The New Pantagruel

The self-styled Rabelaisian journal out in the Midwest is closing up shop. I hope they leave their archive up, as it made for a lot of rewarding reading, too rich to glom in a single cursory surf-by.

One Gone Korea Blog

One Free Korea, which was an extremely handy group blog in these nuclear times, is dissolving back into its original individual components. Darn; just when I had finally updated my bookmarks, too.

Paul At Wizbang Quits

The tale end of a blogosphere spat ends with Paul at Wizbangblog quitting.

I've frequented Wizbang for a long time, since before Paul joined Kevin there. (For some unfathomable reason, I always got Wizbang mixed up with Balloon Juice, dunno why...) So I'm sad to see a flamewar with Ace cause Paul to resign his post. I haven't seen anything like it since Steven Den Beste quit, because he got tired of being crapped at by his commenters.

Best in future endeavors, anyway....

Where's That Liberal Media Gone?

...and speaking of Patterico, his media watchdog project That Liberal Media seems to have gone dormant. I know it isn't for lack of material...

A Sign of the "Times"

Matt Welch trades in his pajamas for khakis and button-downs. His was one of the first blogs I frequented after I first discovered the blogosphere, (via Instapundit, who in turn I discovered via Opinion Journal's Best of the Web.) In praising the wide-open frontier of the blogs back in 2001, he modestly does not claim a share of having created that thrill hissownself. But he did, at least for me.

I'll have more to say about this over on my "real" blog, Atlanta ROFTERS, later. For now, let's just hope Matt can stay on Patterico's good side. Internecine warfare is an ugly thing...

No Hands Blogging

Donald Sensing falls victim to creeping real-life-itis. Drat. Click here for my encomium of his fine blog.

Bye bye, Blaster...

Blaster was a fairly high profile warblogger who has now gone dark, apparently. Back in November, after a year of fitful blogging, he announced a new, improved blog. He posted a few times and then quit again, anyway. I guess he's fallen victim to the by now familiar bind of all bloggers: Leisure, Inspiration, Employment: Pick any two. Well, I hope he's still in good standing at his job. Be kind of ironic if his employer went to the nuclear option on him, wouldn't it?

DailyBlitz OneMoTime

Jheka over at The Daily Blitz hung up his cleats back at Christmas, I just found out. He popped back to weigh in on the Danish cartoon flap, but he says he's still "really" gone.

Never fear, though. Like me, he's easily found in comment boards all over the dextro-sphere.

Eject-Eject-Eject Back On Target

Bill Whittle went dark for the longest time, but he came up for air recently. Something about a movie script. I hope he posts more often. He's the WOT's premiere cheerleader, and we need him.

ASV = A Sizeable Void

Well, after all these years, Michele Catalano finally pulled the plug on A Small Victory. I'll miss her chemistry with Allah, and her absolutely laying on the lash on despicable frauds like Micah Wright. She was one of the first female blogs I frequented with any regularity, and ...well...

*sniffle*...

Let's just say goodbye...

Closing up the barbie down under

There wasn't enough grilling humor to sustain this Australian barbeque blog for more than a month. But what a four week wonder it was...

Tal G. in Jerusalem

Tal G. in Jerusalem seems to have given up on his blog. His was the first Israeli blog I frequented, during the awful suicide bombing campaign of 2000-2002. Hope he's okay!

Bound By Gravity, and Work, and Family, and...

Well, this is a sad post to compose. I went over to the Canadian blog Bound By Gravity to get the inside scoop on the fall of Canada's ruling parliamentary government, and darned if Andrew isn't on hiatus. Good luck with the reconfig, Andrew!

Ken Layne

Ken Layne was one of the first bloggers I encountered when I first started exploring blogs. I think I discovered him via Instapundit or Matt Welch or Tim Blair. His blog is now gone, so far as I can tell, and he just has a couple of links to his two CDs. Thanks for the free ice cream, Ken; it was nice while it lasted.

Cutting out Cut On The Bias

Cut On The Bias, one of the first female-led blogs I frequented when I first started exploring blogs, is switching off. Some foo-fraw about needing more time for RL concerns like a doctorate or somethin'....

Where's Froggy?

I hadn't checked in on The Dissident Frogman in a while, so I was disappointed to see that he hasn't posted since January. Pity; I was looking forward to seeing his take on the rioting and arson by muslim youths in Sein-Saint-Denis in France.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 6, 2005

A kind soul at LGF told me that he is now blogging at No Parasan. Thanks, and silly me.

Dead and Gone Pundit

Happy Fun Pundit was one of the first blogs I bookmarked, once I discovered the blogosphere. It's been fizzled out and gone for a long time. Sad. Thanks for all the laughs, guys.

Civilization still calls

What kind of blogger would manage to land a prestigious mu.nu slot, and quit after only one post?

O Allah Where Art Thou?

Retired blogger Allah kept a vestigial blogspot presence after he took his main site down several months ago. He posted to it once a fortnight or so, in between commenting on everyone else's blog.

So this evening I went over to see what if anything was new, and was startled to discover that he's apparently gone, because it is now a cheesecake link farm, masquerading as a personal blog. Pretty sneaky, spammers.

Bad netizen. No link.

Red Six to be Deep Sixed?

Well this is certainly sad if it turns out to be true. Dauntless tanker Neil Prakash is probably going to take down his blog, due to operational security static. His site is home to some of the best first-person battlefield bloggage of the entire Iraq conflict, especially the bits from Fallujah. If any stray reader of mine sees this in time, click through without delay and save, save, save! His story deserves to be spread far & wide.

Carnival of Hurricane Relief

Instapundit's list of hurricane relief is duly posted here.

My advice is to give money, and lots of it, to the charity of your choice. They know what they need, and right at this moment they probably don't need many warm body volunteers. The time for in-kind donations and work camp church expeditions will come later.

Bad News From Iraq

Noooo!!!!....

The End of The Edge of England's Sword

Iain Murray and crew have decided to sheathe England's Sword. IIRC, he once got fired because of this blog. He also closed up shop on the very day of the London bombings, so that testifies to some pretty terminal boredom with this blog. Enjoyed it while it lasted, though. He says he's not done blogging, so here's hoping his next project is of more lasting interest to him.

UPDATE: I corrected the url in the link. Added it, really, since I didn't put it in there the first time >:^/

The Charlock's (in the) Shade

Well, Enoch Soames, the literary blogger, is back in the hammock for the rest of the month. As protracted as his absence was earlier this year, he's got quite some cheek to slack off the free ice cream so soon.

Terminal Whatsthepointitis?

Jim Treacher is not feelin' it these days. Watching him sporadically post about posting sporadically is getting to be pitiable. I hate to see someone who used to get regular Instalanches fizzle out like this; it's like watching The Dave Clark Five in 1968, years past their best-by date.

But, as the carcass of a mighty whale provides sustenance for tiny bottom-feeding ocean organisms, so the foundering of Treacher's once prominent blog gives me something to sink my chelicerae into.

A case of mistaken identity?

This abandoned personal blog, of no great interest to anyone including the author anymore, is probably pretty typical of the blogwrecks littering the internet, as blogging enters the mainstream.

What's of mild interest here, is that a goodly chunk of this one's traffic was probably driven by people looking for a cruel parody blog based on Terri Schiavo, which had a very similar address. I'm sure the owner of the latter would want me to post a link...

/Paul Harvey deadpan

This is the golden age of blogs

Exchanged emails with retired blogger Allah the other week. I'll not disclose the contents of our exchange, but it set me to thinking about where we are in this new, democratic wired era.

My thoughts on the nature and novelty of the blogosphere are not drastically different from any other enthusiast. However, even now I can smell the nostalgia coming. I miss Allah mightily(--though my no longer aching sides don't!), and the absence of heavyweights like Steven Den Beste and others still leaves a hole in the blog landscape, to me. Their absence is, in fact, one reason that I started this blog with its feeble little premise.

We are living through some kind of a golden age of this new media. The blogosphere circa 2000s will in time be regarded in the same way as we esteem Marvel comics in the 1960s, for example. Pop cultural greatness in a venue that no one thought to look for it. Just as classic movies and TV shows--hell, even 500 year old art masterpieces--are now viewable on videotape, DVD, streaming online video, and more media that were unimaginable to the original artists, so the best of the recent and current bloggage will one day be accessible in formats we don't yet have. Those departed bloggers, who left and took their creations with them, will live again in the nostalgia market, bathed in the affectionate glow of their once and future fans. So back up your files, A-double-lizzle; and wait out the present complications. Somehow, sometime, you're going to become another Sam Watterson or Gary Larson, whose art refused to follow them into retirement. And my Paypal click will be among the first in your inbox.

Something a little different...

It isn't really fair to get on someone's case for not blogging, if that person isn't a blogger to begin with.

But Andy Walton is long overdue to take the plunge. He spends most of his scribbling energy on usenet, SFAIK, but it seems to me he could be a solid political blogger, given his journalistic background.

Oh well... Blogs are for people who can't handle usenet, as I used to like to say.

Sorry for not blogging...

...None of the blogs I frequent have been slacking off lately.

I did have one little spell, where a few blogs linked to a few other blogs I had never visited, which were signing off. But, I didn't blog them. So, the blogosphere will have to do without my bloggage of my favorite bloggers' bloggage of those other bloggers' cessation of bloggage. The power of reciprocating aggregate knowledge, ohyesindeedy...

Video Killed The Patio Star

Looks like the cat's got Martin Devon's tongue. He's run out of political opinions, and is enjoying RL too much to work up a good snark about anything now. Plus, Tivo and Instapundit are supplying him with his daily requirements of news and commentary. Here's hoping he can retool his blog and hold forth on matters more of interest to him before too long.

Love in a Time of War

Well, isn't this sweet! First Red Six rotates out and gets re-united with his fiancee. Now The Questing Cat, another American military blogger in Iraq, comes back online after two months to announce his nuptials. Too bad he had to honeymoon in New Jersey, though. Congratulations!

Bleat Countdown

Lileks' The Bleat has spent the month being The Whatever, as James struggles with doldrums. That is, it would be The Whatever if John Scalzi hadn't thought of that name first.

I wish Lileks would bring back The Screed, myself.

A Trooper's Return

The Marine tanker known as Red Six of necessity had long gaps in between posts to his blog. But as of the beginning of March, he's rotated out to Germany, and met up with his fiancee. Congratulations, well done, many happy returns, and glad he is on our side. But let's not be slacking off providing the free ice cream, hmm? We all want to vicariously accompany him back into The World.

Mother, May I Wake Up Treacher?

Jim Treacher is toughing out a nagging case of whatsthepointitis. Anybody with a way with words can be fascinating when things are hopping, Jim. We count on quality blogs like yours to carry us through the slow times.

Or maybe we should make like Jeff Goldstein's readership, and act like we're there to entertain him.

Flameout of the Week

Reginleif, of Metal Yarmulke, and with whom I carry on a cordial email correspondence, was positioned perfectly this past year and a half. She was a)conservative, b)Jewish, c)of forceful opinions, and d)in the greater Boston area. So what did she produce? Sporadic posts, mostly featuring her emails bitching at the managing editor of whatever media outlet had raised her ire. No undercover reportage of life in Kerry's backyard, or smashing generalizations about the blue state denizens she lives with. Hell, she didn't even make it till the election.

I did learn that she got a good job, and thus didn't have time/energy for the blog anymore. That's cool. Time, money, blogging inspiration: pick any two. But I can't help but feel that she proved unequal to her moment, during the late election. Reginleif: if Kerry runs again in '08, let's hear more out of you, hmm?