Sorry For Not Blogging

As Gone As The Nose On Patrick's Face

2011-03-31T17:21:00.000-04:00

Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants, that is.

The Nose On Your Face blog stalled, sputtered, and has now apparently been discontinued for good. Islamic Rage Boy was a fun internet meme while he lasted--I even got tricked into thinking that it was really him on the cover of Newsweek one time. But now TNOYF is seemingly at one with Patio Pundit, Happy Fun Pundit, and other conservative satire sites of the early Aughties blog era. *sniff*

Scouring Corante for content

2010-09-16T16:03:00.003-04:00

Corante is one of those collective blogs which I used to frequent a lot in the past, but gradually drifted away from. Now it seems to be yet another half-dead pundit farm (I seem to be using that term a lot lately). You have to use the drop window on the front page to get to the pages with fresh content--which amounts to only about half of the listed categories. If the webmaster would feature the new content prominently on the front page, they could spare themselves the annoyance of being written up at blogs like this.

The Absent American

2010-09-13T14:08:00.004-04:00

I thought about Orson Scott Card the other day, for the first time in a long while. After 9/11 and during the run-up to the Iraq war, his column was a must-read for anti-jihadists like me. Now that the fury of the early Aughties has dissipated, under the weight of the events since then, I've gone back to The Ornery American to look around. He's still posting, his "weekly" column appearing very irregularly now, every few months. The "guest essays" section has had no fresh meat for more than two years. A community carries on, behind the registration wall in the forum, but...it looks like The Ornery American is now just another mostly dead pundit farm.

True Slant slips away

2010-08-23T14:39:00.003-04:00

Liberal pundit ranch True Slant is calling it quits, with many of them relocating to that progressive powerhouse, Forbes.

No new Counterknowledge...

2010-07-19T19:53:00.003-04:00

A good though irregular skeptical blog, Counterknowledge, has been quiet since last September. It may have only ever been a promotion tool for Damian Thompson's book of the same name, but it's still a bit sad to see a candle of reason wink out.

Last Call for Korean Rum Diary

2010-06-26T00:33:00.004-04:00

A drunken young Scot taught English and edited a magazine in South Korea for a couple of years, while blogging his deep disgust with the natives. He's now succumbed to whatsthepoint-itis, and is closing up the blog. He dealt out some well done invective at times, even though my experience with Koreans was much more positive than his.

Auf Wiedersehen to David's Medienkritik

2010-03-18T14:52:00.003-04:00

Over the past half decade or so, David's Medienkritik was a good porthole into the anti-American mindset prevalent in the German media. Now, apparently he's feeling talked out, and suffering from reallife-itis. So, so long, and thanks for all the Fisch, Dave!

A terrific Korea humor blog is shutting up shop

2010-01-12T16:59:00.002-05:00

Darn. This was a hysterical blog, which originated from a Twitter feed, mocking the Konglish that is rife among official South Korean websites. His/her farewell post is good, so maybe there are seeds of a more straightforward blog in there. The name of it is @koreangov, which Blogger won't let me put into the title or tags.

NZPundit

2009-10-01T22:45:00.001-04:00

The other day I thought of NZPundit for the first time in years. I used to drop in from time to time, for a New Zealand take on national affairs. Clicking through now, I see that he moved onto Wordpress, and has been quiet for a year now. Eh, well...

Protein Wisdom--still no Jeff

2009-09-05T22:12:00.002-04:00

Jeff Goldstein has completely lost interest in Protein Wisdom, but can't seem to just pull the plug. So an ever-dwindling band of guest-bloggers carries on, with Jeff surfacing every few weeks--months, really--to hit up his readership for financial support. I wish he'd just have a going away party and then invite us all to his next big project.

Korean blogs

2009-09-05T22:10:00.001-04:00

I've been enjoying surfing the blogs of expats in Korea since I got back from my trip this summer. But, since so many of them are only there for a short time, and are too busy to blog regularly, a lot of them in lists like these are dead.

Bummed By Gravity

2007-11-17T22:35:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-14T20:59:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-14T20:56:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-04T10:38:00.000-05:00

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

2006-10-11T22:57:00.000-04:00

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

2006-07-28T16:38:00.000-04:00

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?

2006-06-12T13:11:00.000-04:00

...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"

2006-06-12T13:00:00.000-04:00

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

2006-03-14T10:50:00.000-05:00

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

Bye bye, Blaster...

2006-02-25T15:43:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-05T23:52:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-03T17:57:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-09T22:17:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-09T15:37:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-05T15:43:00.000-05:00

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...

2005-11-29T10:03:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-12T17:14:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-04T17:14:00.000-05:00

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?

2005-11-04T15:33:00.000-05:00

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

2005-10-20T00:49:00.000-04:00

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

2005-10-19T22:16:00.000-04:00

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

O Allah Where Art Thou?

2005-10-02T23:13:00.000-04:00

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?

2005-10-02T22:58:00.000-04:00

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

2005-08-31T14:17:00.000-04:00

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

2005-08-05T23:32:00.000-04:00

Noooo!!!!....

The End of The Edge of England's Sword

2005-07-21T11:26:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-06T23:21:00.000-04:00

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?

2005-06-23T12:44:00.000-04:00

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?

2005-06-11T09:11:00.000-04:00

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

2005-05-29T23:17:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-05-28T00:11:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-05-28T00:05:00.000-04:00

...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

2005-04-29T14:35:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-12T23:54:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-12T23:46:00.000-04:00

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

2005-03-20T14:51:00.000-05:00

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?

2005-03-20T13:16:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-18T23:38:00.000-05:00

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?

"Diplomad" discontinued

2005-02-11T20:38:00.000-05:00

Diplomad, the pseudonymous group of State Department officials which slagged the UN so roundly in the recent tsunami crisis, is closing down. I hope they are right, when they say their USAID colleagues may be coming out with a blog. But I doubt any other similar blog will provide us with Diplomad's inside scoop and bracing snark. If any stray reader of mine tends to judge the U.S. by its failures and the UN by its press releases, read Diplomad's archive while you can.

Terry Teachout non-announces non-stoppage

2005-02-05T13:04:00.000-05:00

Okaaay... Glad this fine blog is staying online, and thanks, Terry, for reassuring us at such length.

Into the hammock in February?

2005-02-01T13:40:00.000-05:00

Andrew Sullivan will be throttling back on the bloggage, says he. He is possibly the most notable print pundit to have had a major shaping influence on these early years of the blogosphere. He's certainly the only such that I ever regularly perused. I believe him when he says that criticism of his endorsement of Kerry for President is not the motivation for him to move on. Although I think he was wrong to let the gay marriage issue trump everything else in the election, I rather respect him for saying hey! I'm a conservative, but my vote isn't already spoken for. You have to earn it!

So thanks for all the hard work, and good luck with the redesign, Andrew.

In Bush's America, no one can hear progressives scream

2005-01-28T21:49:00.000-05:00

This moonbat spent much of last year doing Bush = Hitler photoshoppery, but didn't even last til the election. Good riddance, hope your head exploded on inauguration day.

A missing Iraqi voice

2005-01-28T21:21:00.000-05:00

Ays has been silent for a month. His last post mentioned the death of his friend Alaa. My sympathies, but I was glad to learn that he didn't mean Alaa of The Mesopotamian Here's hoping that Ays finds an internet terminal and participates in the Iraqi election bloggage this weekend.

Probably not a flameout, but...

2005-01-27T16:18:00.000-05:00

...I miss the Rantblog. Somebody hire Aaron quick! And Aaron, what? You couldn't leave up the archive?

Talk about government waste!

2005-01-23T15:11:00.000-05:00

SenatorPundit picked up and moved to his own domain, SenatorPundit.com last autumn. After all of seven posts, he quit.

I had urged him, publicly and privately, to keep up his enjoyable schtick and song parodies, and therefore I can probably take credit for extending his run by a few weeks. You're welcome!

He is still extant on the blogosphere in comment boards here and there. I think he has another blog with a different--or no--schtick, but I don't know. Senator, if you're out there, I'm giving you props!

Quitting in Canada

2005-01-23T14:59:00.000-05:00

Back in October 2004, Jay Random of Shiny Happy Gulag was in rough shape. His comments were infested by spambots, he was facing a number of personal setbacks, including loss of his home, and he was ready to throw in the towel. But, he moved successfully, got some moral support from his circle of real commenters, and quit anyway, after the election. One less conservative voice north of the border, apparently...

Mission adjusted

2005-01-18T23:34:00.000-05:00

I've done some reconceptualization, as this online trifle is starting to pique my interest somewhat. I'll not spend the bulk of both our time listing my excuses for not blogging, as I originally planned. The joke was pallid, and would have gotten stale quickly. Instead, I've rewritten the header to reflect what I've actually been writing about: inactive blogs. Maybe I'll make a blogosphere reputation for keeping track of who be workin' and who be shirkin'. It's still a pallid joke, but there might be more potential for growth in it.

Anyway, gotta go.

Flameout of the week

2005-01-18T23:04:00.000-05:00

Bastard Sword was an attractive, fairly interesting blog that lasted for eleven months. It went T.U. in last mid-November. Tsk, tsk; even has a coveted blurb from The Professor in the upper right corner.

I discovered that blog when I chanced upon this travel piece exploring the occult aspects of vienna sausage.

Flameout of the week

2005-01-16T01:30:00.000-05:00

Last spring I offered my .02 to Chef Quix at Perceptionalism on how he could try to slake his new thirst for knowledge. Now, or rather I should say, way back in December, he left off posting, and in the comments to his last post said he was spending eight hours a day gaming online. There have been longer hiatuses (hiatii?) in his blog than this before, but it's hard to see how working on hand/eye coordination till the wee hours is going to revive his interest in the life of mind--or his blog.

On the prowl? Or on the lam?

2005-01-14T01:58:00.000-05:00

What the...deuce, I guess I should say, is keeping Enoch Soames, aka The Charlock's Shade away from his blog? Can even Chicago offer that much diversion?

My other hobby is beckoning

2005-01-14T01:05:00.000-05:00

I'm going to stop now, because I want to get another Amazon review done before I turn in for the night.

Reviewing for amazon could be quite a pissing contest, but I'm happy with my current ranking of 450-ish. Time was I was up in the three hundreds, but I left off for several months and nearly fell out of the top 500. The type of reviews that have garnered me the most votes are reviews for anti-communist history books. I think I'm still the top rated reviewer for The Black Book of Communism, in fact.

But I like to range all over the place, though mostly I keep to nonfiction. I know of some reviewers who wrote about seemingly everything they ever read, then reviewed all the music in their cd collection, then their favorite movies, and then just dried up. Not me. The reading life is a constant voyage of discovery, and I love sharing it with others. Much more than noodling away at some blog...

My review page
, which I really should learn how to permanently post off to the side, here.

About Last Night

2005-01-14T00:36:00.000-05:00

Art critic Terry Teachout is not blogging this weekend. He's taking a break from blogging about his reviewing, in order to go review a play.

Teachout is the editor of A Second Mencken Chrestomathy, and a recent biography of Mencken, for any passing fans of the Sage of Baltimore.

Blackfive immersed

2005-01-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

Blackfive took a blogger breather for "immersive" training. Deep diving, he said mysteriously. For paratroopers...?

Flameout of the week

2005-01-13T13:28:00.000-05:00

Scott over at Thinking Rocks Hard is a young Briton who started his blog with the benefit of an announcement on a fairly major blog. I think I discovered it via The Commissar, either through him or via someone on his blogroll. Anyway, young Scott introduced himself as the 500,000th most intelligent person in the world, posted a couple or three posts about how patriotism is a prehistoric atavism, and hasn't surfaced since mid-December. Getting mentions from Kevin McGehee and OutsideTheBeltway ought to have been an encouragement to continue. Maybe he's so smart that he saw what a time sink blogging can be, and decided to quit early.

Changes at work, no changes in work

2005-01-11T20:56:00.000-05:00

No posting lately because I'm in a supervisory development course, on top of my regular slate of schedule-gnawing meetings. The further in I get, the more I wonder if this course is really supposed to be punitive.

Anyway, no time/reason to post, regarding myself.

Oh, there it is. Hmmph...

2005-01-07T23:56:00.000-05:00

Turns out it wasn't blogger's fault, I don't think. The post didn't disappear, it just didn't appear when the program said it would. Not really an ESO error either, though, so I don't feel so bad.

See, that's another reason I don't blog, too many ESO errors. Equipment Superior to Operator.

Well, THAT was fast!

2005-01-07T23:52:00.000-05:00

Blogger took my second post and ate it. I had heard about Blogspot's unreliability, but I thought Google's good karma would have rubbed off on them by now.

Well, it's too late to re-type it. It's late, and that's my excuse for knockin' off now. 'Night....

The biggest burnouts

2005-01-07T23:38:00.000-05:00

Steven den Beste, though never on my regular list of blogs to read, was obviously a heavyweight. But one too many readers crapped at him for posting what he posted on his own blog, so finally he called it quits.

Allahpundit, who made the lately-concluded Presidential campaign memorable for those lucky enough to have discovered his photo-shop wizardry, was also an inspired pundit occasionally. He also had a bigger hand in exposing Rathergate than he got credit for. And, as he mentioned in his new--and neglected--blog, he got involved in some unspecified legal trouble. From top to bottom, and from beginning to end, his too-brief career will be a milepost in these early blogosphere years.

Now The Commissar sounds like he's going to succumb to creeping whatsthepointitis. I'm sure he'll do a good job with his Iraqi elections blog--and I still think he should publicize his UN Oil for Food scandal blog more than he does. But he's been slipping out of schtick a lot lately, which I guess is a warning sign.

Now why should the likes of me climb up the heights they scaled, just to slide down the opposite slope? Besides, I'm getting annoyed calls from the other room, gotta run...

Excuses, excuses...

2005-01-07T23:19:00.000-05:00

Since this is the first post in this weblog, I can't apologize for not posting more often. So, I guess I'll have to apologize for not posting sooner. Busy with work & family, you know...

Seriously, I've toyed with the idea of blogging for some time. Yet who has time to read another one, with millions in existence? In my surfings around the 'sphere, commenting here and there, I frequently remark that at least one other person will read my pearls of wit. Not so with a blog of my own. I don't feel any need to write diary entries. What creative juices I have get taken care of well enough at my Amazon page, my comments on other blogs around the 'sphere, and news:alt.quotations. Yet the urge for cheap self promotion, with a minimum of effort, still prods. So here I am.

Don't expect a lot, okay? Like you, I'll probably drop by infrequently.