Comments are working again.
It’s all a bit mysterious to me, since I don’t know what went wrong or what fixed it. I’ll update this post if I ever get a clue. But in the meanwhile, it’s good that comments are working.
UPDATE: It turns out that the server was overloaded - they restarted Apache and cleaned the MySQL tables and that did the trick. I’ll try to prevent this happening in the future.
Sorry, folks - the “Alas” comments aren’t working, and I don’t know why. This appears to be a recurrence of the comments problems we were having at the end of August. I’ve emailed someone smart and asked him to take a look at the problem; hopefully it’ll be short-lived this time.
By the way, new header. Hope y’all like it - I was tired of the old header and wanted a change-up.
Anyhow, “Studio 60″ …It was all right. Not as funny as “Sports Night” or the early “West Wing,” but the first episode was all set-up, so maybe it’ll get sharper as it goes along.
The oddest thing for me, watching the premiere episode, is that I’m a Kristin Chenoweth fan - so I couldn’t help noticing that a major character in “Studio 60″ (Matthew Perry’s ex-girlfriend) is based on Chenoweth. That must be very odd for her. Still, nice to see a positive Christian character on TV. Maybe as the series goes on they’ll add a second non-white character.
UPDATE: See also (or see instead, really) this post.
Announcement: I’m not the owner of “Amptoons.com” anymore. I sold it a couple of months ago.
Five months ago, I was facing two problems. First of all, I was in real financial trouble - we were paying all our bills, but by a slimmer margin each month, and if things had kept on going that way it was only a matter of time before we’d come up short. Plus, one person in the house hadn’t been able to pay his rent in a long time, while another seemed on the verge of being unemployed (although as it turned out, that was a false alarm).
Second of all, I kept on having to beg my host not to shut down “Alas” for using too much server time - and in fact, “Alas” was briefly shut down more than once, and I was forced to remove a lot of functionality in order to reduce server load. My host kept on telling me that I needed a dedicated server, but the cost of that is well beyond anything I could consider.
Then a buyer approached me offering to purchase amptoons.com, so he could use it to improve search engine rankings for his clients (how that all works isn’t something I have any knowledge of). He offered a substantial sum of money - not enough to erase my money worries, but enough to ease the pressure for a while. Plus he offered to provide a free dedicated server for “Alas.”
The contract took months to wrangle, but here’s the bottom line: The new owner has absolutely no control over the content of “Alas.” However, “Alas” plus my cartoonist pages are the only parts of amptoons.com I have any access to or control over. The buyer also has the right to put in one or two inconspicuous links on “Alas,” positioned in a way that would make it unlikely that anyone but search engine robots would follow the link.
I was assured by the buyer that he would never host porn sites on “amptoons.com.” And I wrote into the contract that his link on “Alas” could never be a direct link to a porn site. But beyond that, I have no ability to control what the buyer does with his pages - the deal is that he has absolutely no say in what’s on “Alas,” but we also agreed that I have no say over what he does with his own property. And - as a couple of “Alas” readers have noticed - some pages I don’t own include links to porn.
I’m essentially in the same position as someone with a blog on “blogspot.com” - I don’t own the domain, and although I control what’s on my own blog, I don’t have any say over what’s posted on the domain other than my little piece of it.
I realize that some “Alas” readers will feel that I’ve sold out, or that this puts me beyond the pale. I’m genuinely sorry for that. For the record, I don’t feel I’ve been victimized (as one person suggested in email), nor do I feel like I’m a total sell-out. What I feel is this: I’ve made a compromise, one that I probably wouldn’t have made in a perfect world.
That’s all. And now, back to your regularly scheduled political rants.
(Comments are closed on this thread. If you want to talk to me about this, please drop me an email.)
This post was removed by request of the author.
My name is Kay Olson, though most people in the blogworld know me as Blue. Or Blue Lily, or back at the Ms. Boards before they imploded I was Blue Girl. Amp has asked me to guest blog for a month and I’m thrilled to be a contributor here. My blog is The Gimp Parade, which has been linked to occasionally here.
It’s a single issue blog about disability from a disability rights perspective, but since disability issues are as diverse as topics that relate to feminism there’s a healthy bit of variation to what I write about, I hope. I do like to look at books and movies from a disability studies perspective, and most recently I’ve been sharing my personal adventures with the health care system and Medicare politics. I look forward to discussing all these things with Alas readers and learning what I can from this much larger and more talkative audience.
Check out my blogroll if disability issues interest you. There’s been an explosion of disability bloggers in the past year or two and I’m just one of the squeaky wheels. For example, there are dozens of bloggers with autism representing themselves and their ways of thinking not just from a disability rights perspective, but as a unique cultural experience too.
Anyway, thanks, Amp, for the invite! I hope what I write about is of interest here.
So can anyone let me know what I have to change in the stylesheet to make the left-hand border of “Alas” reappear? (You can see what the left-hand border is supposed to look like by viewing this image file.)
The CSS stylesheet for “Alas” is below the fold, so anyone interested can read it. I’d appreciate any help with this - I’ve been playing with the CSS, but nothing I do seems to help.
/* Edited with EditCSS */
/**** LINK-tag style sheet style.css ****/
/*
Theme Name: WordPress Default
Theme URI: wordpress.org/
Description: The default WordPress theme based on the famous Kubrick.
Version: 1.5
Author: Michael Heilemann
Author URI: binarybonsai.com/
Kubrick v1.5
binarybonsai.com/kubrick/
This theme was designed and built by Michael Heilemann,
whose blog you will find at binarybonsai.com/
The CSS, XHTML and design is released under GPL:
www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license….
*** REGARDING IMAGES ***
All CSS that involves the use of images, can be found in the ‘index.php’ file.
This is to ease installation inside subdirectories of a server.
Have fun, and don’t be afraid to contact me if you have questions.
*/
/* Begin Typography & Colors */
body {
font-size: 75.5%; /* Resets 1em to 10px */
font-family: Georgia, Serif;
background-color: #FFF8DC;
color: #333;
text-align: center;
}
#page {
background-color: #FFF8DC;
border: 1px solid #959596;
text-align: left;
}
#header {
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
#content {
font-size: 1em;
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
.widecolumn .entry p {
font-size: .9em;
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
.narrowcolumn .entry, .widecolumn .entry {
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
.widecolumn {
line-height: 1.5em;
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
.narrowcolumn .postmetadata {
text-align: center;
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
.alt {
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
#footer {
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
.small {
font-family: Georgia, Serif;
font-size: 0.75em;
line-height: 1.3em;
}
.author {
font-family: Georgia, Serif;
font-size:1em;
color:#993300;
font-style:italic;
line-height:1.3em;
}
.entrytext {
font-family: Georgia, Serif;
font-size: 1em;
line-height: 1.3em;
}
.entry {
font-family: Georgia, Serif;
font-size: 1em;
line-height: 1.3em;
}
h1, h2, h3 {
font-family: Georgia, Serif;
font-weight: bold;
}
h1 {
font-size: 3em;
text-align: center;
}
.description {
font-size: 1em;
text-align: center;
}
h2 {
font-size: 1.4em;
}
h2.pagetitle {
font-size: 1.3em;
}
#sidebar h2 {
font-family: Georgia, Serif;
font-size: 1em;
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
h3 {
font-size: 1em;
}
h1, h1 a, h1 a:hover, h1 a:visited, .description {
text-decoration: none;
color: white;
}
h2, h2 a, h2 a:visited, h3, h3 a, h3 a:visited {
color: #333;
}
h2, h2 a, h2 a:hover, h2 a:visited, h3, h3 a, h3 a:hover, h3 a:visited, #sidebar h2, #wp-calendar caption, cite {
text-decoration: none;
}
.entry p a:visited {
color: #b85b5a;
}
.commentlist li, #commentform input, #commentform textarea {
font: 1em Georgia, Serif;
}
.commentlist li {
font-weight: bold;
}
.thisusedtobecalled_commentlist cite, .thisusedtobecalled_commentlist cite a {
font-weight: bold;
font-style: normal;
font-size: 1em;
}
.commentlist p {
font-weight: normal;
line-height: 1.3em;
text-transform: none;
}
#commentform p {
font-family: Georgia, Serif;
}
.commentmetadata {
font-weight: normal;
}
#sidebar {
font: .9em Georgia, Serif;
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
small, #sidebar ul ul li, #sidebar ul ol li, .nocomments, .postmetadata, strike {
color: #777;
}
code {
font: 1.1em ‘Courier New’, Courier, Fixed;
}
acronym, abbr, span.caps
{
font-size: 0.8em;
letter-spacing: .07em;
}
a, h2 a:hover, h3 a:hover {
color: #993300;
text-decoration: none;
}
a:hover {
color: #147;
text-decoration: underline;
}
#wp-calendar #prev a {
font-size: 9pt;
}
#wp-calendar a {
text-decoration: none;
}
#wp-calendar caption {
font: bold 1.3em ‘Lucida Grande’, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif;
text-align: center;
}
#wp-calendar th {
font-style: normal;
text-transform: capitalize;
}
/* End Typography & Colors */
/* Begin Structure */
body {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
#page {
background-color: #FFF8DC;
margin: 20px auto;
padding: 0;
width: 860px;
border: 1px solid #959596;
}
#header {
padding: 0;
margin: 0 auto;
height: 200px;
width: 100%;
background-color: #FFF8DC;
}
#headerimg {
margin: 0;
height: 200px;
width: 100%;
}
.narrowcolumn {
float: left;
padding: 0 0 20px 40px;
margin: 0px 0 0;
width: 560px;
}
.widecolumn {
padding: 10px 0 20px 0;
margin: 5px 0 0 50px;
width: 560px;
}
.post {
margin: 0 0 40px;
text-align: left;
}
.widecolumn .post {
margin: 0;
}
.narrowcolumn .postmetadata {
padding-top: 5px;
}
.widecolumn .postmetadata {
margin: 30px 0;
}
#footer {
padding: 0 0 0 1px;
margin: 0 auto;
width: 100%;
clear: both;
}
#footer p {
margin: 0;
padding: 20px 0;
text-align: center;
}
/* End Structure */
/* Begin Headers */
h1 {
padding-top: 70px;
margin: 0;
}
.description {
text-align: center;
}
h2 {
margin: 30px 0 0;
}
h2.pagetitle {
margin-top: 30px;
text-align: center;
}
#sidebar h2 {
margin: 5px 0 0;
padding: 0;
}
h3 {
padding: 0;
margin: 30px 0 0;
}
h3.comments {
padding: 0;
margin: 40px auto 20px ;
}
/* End Headers */
/* Begin Images */
p img {
padding: 0;
max-width: 100%;
display: block;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}
/* Using ‘class=”alignright”‘ on an image will (who would’ve
thought?!) align the image to the right. And using ‘class=”centered’,
will of course center the image. This is much better than using
align=”center”, being much more futureproof (and valid) */
img.centered {
display: block;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}
img.alignright {
padding: 4px;
margin: 0 0 2px 7px;
display: inline;
}
img.alignleft {
padding: 4px;
margin: 0 7px 2px 0;
display: inline;
}
.alignright {
float: right;
}
.alignleft {
float: left
}
/* End Images */
/* Begin Lists
Special stylized non-IE bullets
Do not work in Internet Explorer, which merely default to normal bullets. */
html>body .entry ul {
margin-left: 0px;
padding: 0 0 0 30px;
list-style: none;
padding-left: 10px;
text-indent: -10px;
}
html>body .entry li {
margin: 7px 0 8px 10px;
}
/* .entry ul li:before, #sidebar ul ul li:before {
content: “\00BB \0020″;
} */
.entry ol {
padding: 0 0 0 35px;
margin: 0;
}
.entry ol li {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
.postmetadata ul, .postmetadata li {
display: inline;
list-style-type: none;
list-style-image: none;
}
#sidebar ul, #sidebar ul ol {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
#sidebar ul li {
list-style-type: none;
list-style-image: none;
margin-bottom: 15px;
}
#sidebar ul p, #sidebar ul select {
margin: 5px 0 8px;
}
#sidebar ul ul, #sidebar ul ol {
margin: 5px 0 0 10px;
}
#sidebar ul ul ul, #sidebar ul ol {
margin: 0 0 0 10px;
}
ol li, #sidebar ul ol li {
list-style: decimal outside;
}
#sidebar ul ul li, #sidebar ul ol li {
margin: 3px 0 0;
padding: 0;
}
/* Added to turn off auto-indenting of each list */
.recentcomments ul {
padding-left: 0px;
}
/* Remove custom bullet from recent comment –posts– */
#erc_post_list li.erc_post_item:before {
content: “”;
}
/* Remove custom bullet from recent comment –comments– */
#erc_post_list li.erc_comment_item:before {
content: “”;
}
.recentcomments ul li {
margin: 3px 0px 1px 1px;
font-variant:small-caps;
font-weight:600;
font-size:13px;
}
.recentcomments ul ul li {
padding-left:3px;
font-variant:normal;
font-weight:normal;
font-size:11px;
}
/* End Entry Lists */
/* Begin Form Elements */
#searchform {
margin: 10px auto;
padding: 5px 3px;
text-align: center;
}
#sidebar #searchform #s {
width: 115px;
padding: 2px;
}
#sidebar #searchsubmit {
padding: 1px;
}
.entry form { /* This is mainly for password protected posts, makes them look better. */
text-align:center;
}
select {
width: 130px;
}
#commentform input {
width: 170px;
padding: 2px;
margin: 5px 5px 1px 0;
}
#commentform textarea {
width: 100%;
padding: 2px;
}
#commentform #submit {
margin: 0;
float: right;
}
/* End Form Elements */
/* Begin Comments*/
.alt {
margin: 0;
padding: 10px;
}
.commentlist {
padding: 0;
text-align: left;
}
.commentlist li {
margin: 15px 0 3px;
padding: 5px 10px 3px;
list-style: decimal;
}
.commentlist p {
margin: 10px 5px 10px 0;
}
#commentform p {
margin: 5px 0;
}
.nocomments {
text-align: center;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
.commentmetadata {
margin: 0;
display: block;
}
/* End Comments */
/* Begin Sidebar */
#sidebar
{
padding: 25px 0 10px 20px;
margin-left: 630px;
width: 180px;
}
#sidebar form {
margin: 0;
}
/* End Sidebar */
/* Begin Calendar */
#wp-calendar {
empty-cells: show;
margin: 10px auto 0;
width: 155px;
}
#wp-calendar #next a {
padding-right: 10px;
text-align: right;
}
#wp-calendar #prev a {
padding-left: 10px;
text-align: left;
}
#wp-calendar a {
display: block;
}
#wp-calendar caption {
text-align: center;
width: 100%;
}
#wp-calendar td {
padding: 3px 0;
text-align: center;
}
#wp-calendar td.pad:hover { /* Doesn’t work in IE */
background-color: #fff; }
/* End Calendar */
/* Begin Various Tags & Classes */
acronym, abbr, span.caps {
cursor: help;
}
acronym, abbr {
border-bottom: 1px dashed #999;
}
blockquote {
width:90%;
text-align:left;
padding:10px;
background-color:#FFFFFC;
border:1px solid #993300;
font-family: georgia, serif;
color: #000000;
font-size:1em;
line-height:1.3em;
margin: auto;
}
blockquote cite {
width:90%;
text-align:left;
padding:10px;
background-color:#FFFFFC;
border: none;
font-family: georgia, serif;
color: #000000;
font-size:.9em;
line-height:1.1em;
margin: auto;
}
.snip {
width:90%;
text-align:left;
padding:10px;
background-color:#FFFFFC;
border:1px solid #993300;
font-family: georgia, serif;
color: #000000;
font-size:1em;
line-height:1.3em;
margin: auto;
}
.center {
text-align: center;
}
hr {
display: none;
}
a img {
border: none;
}
.navigation {
display: block;
text-align: center;
margin-top: 10px;
margin-bottom: 60px;
}
/* End Various Tags & Classes*/
/* “Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I’m half crazy all for the love of you.
It won’t be a stylish marriage, I can’t afford a carriage.
But you’ll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.” */
/**** Inline STYLE-tag style sheet ****/
/* BEGIN IMAGE CSS */
/* To accomodate differing install paths of WordPress, images are referred only here,
and not in the wp-layout.css file. If you prefer to use only CSS for colors and what
not, then go right ahead and delete the following lines, and the image files. */
body { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickbgcolor.jpg”); } #page { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickbg.jpg”) repeat-y top; border: none; } #header { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickheader.jpg”) no-repeat bottom center; }
#footer { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickfooter.jpg”) no-repeat bottom; border: none; height: 124px;}
/* Because the template is slightly different, size-wise, with images, this needs to be set here
If you don’t want to use the template’s images, you can also delete the following two lines. */
#header { margin: 0 !important; margin: 0 0 0 1px; padding: 1px; height: 198px; width: 758px; }
#headerimg { margin: 7px 9px 0; height: 192px; width: 740px; }
/* END IMAGE CSS */
/* To ease the insertion of a personal header image, I have done it in such a way,
that you simply drop in an image called ‘personalheader.jpg’ into your /images/
directory. Dimensions should be at least 760px x 200px. Anything above that will
get cropped off of the image. */
/* #headerimg { background: url(’http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/personalheader.jpg’) no-repeat top;} */
/**** Inline STYLE-tag style sheet ****/
/* BEGIN IMAGE CSS */
/* To accomodate differing install paths of WordPress, images are referred only here,
and not in the wp-layout.css file. If you prefer to use only CSS for colors and what
not, then go right ahead and delete the following lines, and the image files. */
body { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickbgcolor.jpg”); } #page { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickbg.jpg”) repeat-y top; border: none; } #header { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickheader.jpg”) no-repeat bottom center; }
#footer { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickfooter.jpg”) no-repeat bottom; border: none; height: 124px;}
/* Because the template is slightly different, size-wise, with images, this needs to be set here
If you don’t want to use the template’s images, you can also delete the following two lines. */
#header { margin: 0 !important; margin: 0 0 0 1px; padding: 1px; height: 198px; width: 758px; }
#headerimg { margin: 7px 9px 0; height: 192px; width: 740px; }
/* END IMAGE CSS */
/* To ease the insertion of a personal header image, I have done it in such a way,
that you simply drop in an image called ‘personalheader.jpg’ into your /images/
directory. Dimensions should be at least 760px x 200px. Anything above that will
get cropped off of the image. */
/* #headerimg { background: url(’http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/personalheader.jpg’) no-repeat top;} */
/**** Inline STYLE-tag style sheet ****/
/* BEGIN IMAGE CSS */
/* To accomodate differing install paths of WordPress, images are referred only here,
and not in the wp-layout.css file. If you prefer to use only CSS for colors and what
not, then go right ahead and delete the following lines, and the image files. */
body { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickbgcolor.jpg”); } #page { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickbg.jpg”) repeat-y top; border: none; } #header { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickheader.jpg”) no-repeat bottom center; }
#footer { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickfooter.jpg”) no-repeat bottom; border: none; height: 124px;}
/* Because the template is slightly different, size-wise, with images, this needs to be set here
If you don’t want to use the template’s images, you can also delete the following two lines. */
#header { margin: 0 !important; margin: 0 0 0 1px; padding: 1px; height: 198px; width: 758px; }
#headerimg { margin: 7px 9px 0; height: 192px; width: 740px; }
/* END IMAGE CSS */
/* To ease the insertion of a personal header image, I have done it in such a way,
that you simply drop in an image called ‘personalheader.jpg’ into your /images/
directory. Dimensions should be at least 760px x 200px. Anything above that will
get cropped off of the image. */
/* #headerimg { background: url(’http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/personalheader.jpg’) no-repeat top;} */
/**** Inline STYLE-tag style sheet ****/
/* BEGIN IMAGE CSS */
/* To accomodate differing install paths of WordPress, images are referred only here,
and not in the wp-layout.css file. If you prefer to use only CSS for colors and what
not, then go right ahead and delete the following lines, and the image files. */
body { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickbgcolor.jpg”);
background-attachment: fixed; }
#page { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickbg.jpg”) repeat-y top; border: none; } #header { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickheader.jpg”) no-repeat bottom center; }
#footer { background: url(”http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/kubrickfooter.jpg”) no-repeat bottom; border: none; height: 124px; width: 858px; }
/* Because the template is slightly different, size-wise, with images, this needs to be set here
If you don’t want to use the template’s images, you can also delete the following two lines. */
#header { margin: 0 !important; margin: 0 0 0 1px; padding: 1px; height: 198px; width: 858px; }
#headerimg { margin: 7px 9px 0; height: 192px; width: 840px; }
/* END IMAGE CSS */
/* To ease the insertion of a personal header image, I have done it in such a way,
that you simply drop in an image called ‘personalheader.jpg’ into your /images/
directory. Dimensions should be at least 760px x 200px. Anything above that will
get cropped off of the image. */
/* #headerimg { background: url(’http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/personalheader.jpg’) no-repeat top;} */
Comments are working again! Apparently WordPress version 2.02 was a bit unstable and error-prone; “Alas” has now been updated to WordPress version 2..04, which has fixed the problems. Also, “Alas” pages are now loading noticeably faster then they have in ages. Basically, things are now un-fucked-up around here.
For this much improved state of affairs, I am very grateful to the one and only Sam Devol, who got under the “Alas” hood and put things into working order.
Thanks, Sam - I’m bowing in your presumed direction and muttering “I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy!” at you!
“Alas” is having a bunch of problems. I haven’t a clue what’s going on; if anyone could offer me some advice, I’d appreciate it.
For a description of the problems I’ve been having, read this thread and also this thread on the WordPress support forums. If you have any suggestions, you can leave replies there, or email me at barry@amptoons.com.
Comments aren’t working, and I understand some folks have been having other problems as well (mainly in Firefox). I’m looking into it - hopefully, it’ll be solved before too long.
I’ve added a fancy archives gizmo to the sidebar (inspired by how much I like the archive format at Capitalism Bad, Tree Pretty). I like it once it’s loaded, and it certainly makes the sidebar cleaner-looking, but it also slows down the load time (although on my browser, the rest of the page is readable while it loads, so it’s not so bad).
Also, I’ve added a “subscribe to comments” feature.
Like these add-ons? Hate them? Let me know, please.
UPDATE: “Fancy Archives” had to be deactivated - apparently the sucker was a real CPU hog. Oh, well.
Until the problems with my regular email addresses are resolved, I can be emailed at barryishere@gmail.com .
UPDATE: Problems resolved.
Update: I think the problem is fixed now.
Well, just as I’ve finally managed to post something of substance, it seems July is over. And I’m about to commence moving from New South Wales to Arizona, so posting at debitage will be light for the next couple weeks (thus probably losing me any increased readership I might have gained from my stint here on Alas). Huge thanks to Amp for allowing me to prattle on in this space for the past month. See you in the comments section.
I’m having “connectivity issues,” and the earliest a repair person can get to me is Thursday. In the meanwhile, I probably won’t post much, and the moderation process (i.e., approving posts that Wordpress suspects of being spam and so wants a human to check out) will be slowed down a bit. Sorry!
Also, my email access is going to be pretty minimal until this is fixed, so my email-answering rate - already pretty awful - will be even worse than usual.
Hey, folks. My productivity has been a little slow lately as I started summer teaching last week. I have a few posts in the works. I’ve been composing a follow up to the “I Want My Period Post,” which has taken at least a month. I am also writing my follow-up to the “The Feminist Blogosphere Needs to be More Inclusive of Older Women.” The post is on grandmothers raising their grandchildren. I didn’t realize when I picked both of those topics what I had gotten myself into. I found thousands of sites and articles on grandmothers raising their grandchildren, and the period debate was way more contentious than I thought. Periodically, I get overwhelmed by the vast amount of info. out there and writing a nice concise blog length post is very difficult. I am an academic after all–we are know as the world’s most needlessly verbose people.
I’m also writing my profile/bio for the site. Is there anything people would like to know about me?
Expect me to finish a post this weekend.
Hi there. This is Stentor Danielson, best known on the web as the author of debitage, the top Google result for both “utilitarian view of homosexuality” and “deontological view of homosexuality.” I’m a heterosexual white middle-class non-disabled cissexual unitarian male. I was born and raised in Pennsylvania, but I’m currently living in Richmond, NSW, Australia while working on my PhD dissertation, “Discourses About Wildfire in New Jersey and New South Wales.”
I’m honored and just a bit intimidated to be given such a large podium (debitage averages 30 readers a day), but I’ll try to make the most of my time here. I write about things across the spectrum of progressive politics, but my main focus is the environment. I’ve got some ideas about what I want to write this month, but I’m quite open to suggestions.
Occasional “Alas” comment-writer Richard Jeffrey Newman will be the featured reader tomorrow (Saturday) night at an open mic poetry reading. Richard’s a pretty impressive fellow, so if you’re in NYC you should probably check it out. Details at Richard’s blog.
Oh, and I’ll be in New York City myself next month - probably around July 28th, give or take a couple of days. While I’m in town, I’d love to have dinner with any interested NYC “Alas” readers. (Also, if anyone can put me up on their sofa for the night…!) I’ll mention this again when we’re closer to the date, but please leave a comment if you think you’d attend such a dinner.
Here. Right now, I really like how it looks, although I might hate it a month from now.
My intention is to post a new page of Hereville every Thursday. Considering my past record, however, my advice to you is to wait and see how it goes. :-P
Folks may have noticed that I haven’t been posting as much on “Alas” recently. To some extent that’s because I’ve had to go to the “day job” a lot more than usual lately, a situation I expect to be temporary.
However, my lack of posting is also because I’ve changed my free time priorities, and “Alas” has been moved down a couple of notches, so that I can spend more time drawing Hereville (and doing some other stuff as well, but Hereville is the biggie).
So substantive blogging from me will be less frequent for the forseeable future. And I’m afraid the huge link farms - which I really liked doing - are of the past, because they took a lot of time to put together. Future link farms will either be a lot smaller, or a lot less frequent, or (most likely) both.
Just thought I should let y’all know.
It’s now possible to read the archives and leave comments, so things are pretty much back to normal.
I’m still planning to restore one lost post and several lost comments (all the ones that made it into my most recent back-up), but I won’t have a chance to work on that until Sunday night.
You are currently browsing the archives for the Site and Admin Stuff category.
