Event Horizon

Happy 4th of July!

As I head out for my holiday weekend....hey, wait a minute...what happened to the weekend? Anyway, as I head out for the holiday, I just wanted to wish all my readers here in the U.S. a happy Independence Day. I know you have all probably already been deluged with e-mail and video celebrations of the holiday and I won't embed another one here, you may click on it if you would like to see it. This particular web card is from the good people at GoDaddy.com, one of my favorite web registrars: Celebrate July 4th with GoDaddy.com! I think it's very well done, with some nice music and some some great historical quotes appropriate to the holiday.  I particularly like the quote from Ronald Reagan, a timely reminder that this generation is called upon to defend freedom and liberty from enemies both foreign and domestic. Happy 4th of July!
Photo: Judy

Vacation

I just got back from a vacation, which explains the lack of recent posts. So, did I miss anything interesting? Let's see, there is a little war in the Middle East, the shuttle launched and returned to Earth after a successful mission to the space station, Iraq is still a mess, and, well, so much has happened in one week that I don't know where to start. I think I'll just skip today and get back to catching up on e-mail, ha!

One Voice

Having a blog means having a voice. Perhaps it is merely an extension or amplification of the voice we have as citizens, one vote and one voice in the public square. One of the reasons I started a general commentary blog was to exercise the power of my voice to support the values and causes I believe in. With so much negativity in the blogosphere I thought I'd share with you a statement on what I want to use this blog for. I choose to support: liberty over tyranny; education over ignorance; freedom over oppression; creation over destruction; individualism over collectivism; science over superstition; the modern over the medieval; faith over religion; hope over despair; love over hate; and life over death. I may not always be consistent in applying these values, but this is my general sensibility and what I strive to promote in my life. If you share these values I invite you to participate in this blog and lend your voice to our dialogue in this our modern public square.

New Theme

I'm trying out a new theme for this blog. Type Pad has several new themes and some of them are quite nice. This theme is called Vicksburg. Anyway, let me know what you think of it.

A Change in Scope

You may have noticed that there has been a lot of press lately about how popular blogs are getting (BBC - Blog reading explodes in America). When I started this blog, I had the notion that it would be a serious blog devoted to current events, that I would post at least once a day, and it would be something insightful and terribly interesting. I anticipated I would spend the most amount of time discussing international affairs and foreign policy, offering some context to the daily news links and perhaps some perspective that would make your visit here worthwhile. However, as I look back on my posts I realize that I've fallen far short of my goals. For one thing, I now realize that it is quite a chore to post once a day and my hat is off to those who do. There are many days when I will note some event or issue that I would like to blog about, but then the moment will pass and I won't find the time in the rest of the day to follow through. I've also discovered that many of the draft posts that never actually make it to the public space here are very rough, reactive, superficial, and altogether too much like an aside to be considered intelligent commentary. As this New Year begins I've been giving some thought to this blog. Should I continue it? Should I try to return to the original idea, daily posting of something very thought out and rewarding to the reader? Should I accept that my best intention probably won't allow me to ignore the fact that I just don't have the time to do this, at least, not in the manner that I would like to. Or, should I continue with a casual pace, posting only when I find something interesting, and allowing the kinds of posts about music and books and other random topics that I would never have considered before? I'm not really sure, and so far I have not made a decision about what to do. Any suggestions?

Holiday Crunch

I'm well into the holiday crunch now as I try to close out the work week, finish holiday shopping and travel over the hill and through the woods to visit family for Christmas. I guess what I'm saying is, posting will be sparse until the new year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Categories

Another administrative note, TypePad has now made it easier to link posts to categories and so I've added Categories to the sidebar link. Some of the category links are not functional, as it appears that I've not made any posts in those particular categories. I'll have to work on that. I tend to post most frequently in the Current Affairs category, which makes sense, as I describe this as a blog about current events. That said, there's no reason I can't think of something clever to say in other categories, though I can't imagine making any posts in the Food & Drink category, other than perhaps to encourage the regular use of food and drink.

New to Blog Roll

I'm adding Michael J. Totten to the blog roll, as I enjoy his insight and his wit as he reminds readers that if they think the world will love America without George Bush, they are gravely mistaken. I agree with him, and would add that if the world has grown weary of Republican adventurism, they are probably not at all prepared for an era of offensive Liberalism.

Event Nexus

I'm experiencing an event nexus today. An event nexus is defined as a confluence of rare and unusual events which conspire to happen at the same time. Ok, maybe the events themselves don't actually conspire, it just appears as if they do. Today I have three unique events happening and two rare events, any one of which would be unusual on any given day, but for them all to happen on the same day is a classic example of an event nexus. I've observed that these nexuses (nexii?) happen infrequently (for me at least) and with little apparent pattern and all one can hope to do is ride them out when they happen. As one who is comfortable with the regular patterns and routines of life (with disrespect to Emerson), I tend to notice these disruptions. Are any of you familiar with this phenomenon? At any rate, that is my explanation for the lack of posts in the last few days, things have been hectic. Hopefully, once things settle down, I'll be back to regular daily (more or less) posting.

A New Beginning

This is the first post to the new Event Horizon web log, hosted by TypePad. I will be busy testing out the new features, playing with the templates, and checking out the service. I will keep you posted on my progress. Will I recommend the service to others when the beta period is over? Will I become a BlogSpot refugee? Stay tuned.