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Technorati Tags: dancingbear, dancing bear, hugh da bear, huge effing bear, hugh macleod, hugh’s whuffie, meth lab texas

Received this info in an email today from Liz Ditz… after I read it, I clicked through and took the survey.

Ronni Bennett writes “Time Goes By — what it’s really like to get older.” She is conducting a survey on the universe of bloggers over 50 (”elderbloggers”).

“The goal,” she says, “is to find out what elderbloggers are like, how we may be similar and how we are different, how we relate to technology, how we came to be bloggers or blog readers, how we feel about it and what our demographics are.”

The survey is multiple choice, anonymous, and hosted at Survey Monkey (a reputable firm). There are 57 questions. It took me only a few minutes to complete.

NOTA BENE: This survey is for elderbloggers and elder blog readers who do not keep blogs. Readers and commenters are as important as bloggers to the elderblogging community and help equally to make it as lively and compelling as it is.

Here’s the link to the survey: Elderblogger Survey.

Would you be able to publicize the survey? It’s going to be running until end of day, May 1, 2008. Ronni will collate and report results at Time Goes By.

Patrick Lang blogs at Sic Semper Tyrannis.

Colonel W. Patrick Lang is a retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces (The Green Berets). He served in the Department of Defense both as a serving officer and then as a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service for many years. He is a highly decorated veteran of several of America’s overseas conflicts including the war in Vietnam. He was trained and educated as a specialist in the Middle East by the U.S. Army and served in that region for many years. He was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. In the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) he was the “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism,” and later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service.” For his service in DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” This is the equivalent of a British knighthood. He is an analyst consultant for many television and radio broadcasts.

His presentation on current events is brilliantly informed and balanced. His commenters are also of the same stripe — people with insights informed by experience and direct knowledge.

From his post “Iraqi Forces vs. the Extremists”…

It is clear that US policy is to back Maliki/Dawa/ISCI/Badr Corps (Iraqi Forces) against Moqtada al-Sadr and his “army” of “shirtless ones.” Fine. Why not? I guess the US has no choice but to back someone.

I suppose that the powers that be will shift the Main Supply Route (MSR) to the west (Nasiriyah) if the Basra area becomes too obstructed.

My problem with the present course of events is the ruthlessness of the propaganda campaign being successfully waged by the Bush Administration. The president has succeeded in “framing” the discussion in such a way that Maliki and his assembly of Badr Corps militias are represented as being the equivalent of George Washington suppressing the Whiskey Rebellion. The noble Maliki is portrayed as motivated by a selfless desire for “national” unity. The MSM has re-transmitted that idea without serious question.

In fact he is merely acting on behalf of an emerging alignment of pro-Iranian forces in Iraq that have successfully pulled the wool over American eyes.

… and from a post titled “UCMJ extends to civilian contractors - Gates” we learn that according to the Secretary of Defense Blackwater bullies no longer have license to murder, rape, and pillage (which has to take a lot of the fun and profit out being a mercenary):

The [Gates] directive provides authority for officers and NCOs to arrest and detain persons seen conducting a crime and for military authorities to pursue investigations that may lead to trial by general court martial.

The directive requires DoD to inform the US Department of Justice (DoJ) that it is proceeding against particular civilians. This provision exists to allow DoJ to take charge of the case involving civilians if it wishes. If DoJ declines then the military is authorized to proceed under its own legal system.

A commenter suggests, “But most of these private armies are neither serving with or for the Dept. of Defense. Most are attached to State or to the private contractors and are not under those contractual obligations that the DOD imposes. So the DOD [may have] no jurisdiction….” Interesting discussion ensues.

Col. Lang has a healthy skepticism for most things that smell of Cheney or Bush. He writes respectfully of Obama, and supportively of Clinton. He has no time for McCain whom he considers to be ill informed. I liked this bit:

The Vice President seems as insulated from reality as always and absolutely shameless in his public denials of reality in Iraq. What’s the deal with him? Is he really impaired somehow or is it about the money as the “oilies” insist?

Then, there is John McCain. He does seem impaired. Lieberman had to remind him that AQ is a Sunni group who hate the government of Iran?

The Democrats need to sober up and get Hillary and Obama onto the same ticket. I don’t care who gets the top spot.

No subpoenas! No mental health diagnoses! Little character assassination and absolutely no death threats! Just plain old fun and good old rock ‘n roll!

Technorati Tags: kathy sierra, no hard feelings, defamation, deprivation of income, pain and suffering, steal your face, who’s your uncle

Ronni has a great post inviting her readers to dig into her blogroll and find a new (to you) blog and review it. I did it… prairiemary was the blog I found. Mary (prairie mary) Scriver has links to sbpoet (Sharon Brogan) and (in her sidebar) to 2blowhards. It was a pleasure to reconnect with these sites as well. Sharon posts a copy of her “real writer certificate,” which reminded me of Barthelme’s The Dolt, bringing me full circle into the self-referential framework that is too often my blogging. (Of course the only similarity between Sharon and The Dolt is that they both refer to writing certificates, a funny concept on the face of it).

Other stuff that’s bubbled up in my browser tabs…

Liz Ditz posting on the scientific assessment of mercury in childhood vaccinations as a cause for autism (Not! so don’t believe ABC when they show their contrived story about the “conflict” of opinions here)…

A List Apart caving in to Microsoft’s rejection of browser standards? (Thanks to Shelley for that link)…

Snorri Sturluson, who needs no introduction…

Settling Old Scores by Beethoven (thanks to AKMA for the link to Michael White’s recent column. By waiting a few days my urgency to write ham-handedly about Foucault and Stephen Hero yakity yak has left me and I’m left with a pleasant read by a good journalist and a good and decent blogger)…

The Blush of the New by Lee Siegel

Edelman’s white paper on distributed influence in social media is still lurking out there like a big white whale in bermuda shorts with an aloha shirt, a straw hat, shades, and a rum punch with an umbrella in it. I hope to put a toothpick in it and serve it on a Ritz cracker soon enough. Thanks, Technobabble. And thanks too to the RJR Nabisco Corporation for product placement on the Ritz cracker, the foundation for the finest ordure.

Maggie Fox.

Drum Corps International.

Pride of Oakland Drum and Bugle Corps.

Hannah Ford.

Wendell Berry.

Rafe Needleman’s Newbie’s Guide to Twitter.

Martin Geddes.

Cynthia Laitman and the Wisconsin Cable Bill.

Cybertelecom.

Open Rights Group wiki… net neutrality… many of Suw Charman’s contributions… meet Suw at F2C in Silver Springs the last day of March and the first of April…

Media with Attitude

Tim Russert, Russell Crowe, and I don’t know what all…

Embracing Uncertainty

Cover it Live

Dan Bricklin’s blog, January 2003

Fast Ladder “You can import your opml list to Fast ladder.”

Share OPML Retired…

The Lost Art of Cooperation…

Tailrank…

The Winning Ticket… Hillary and Diebold (pretty sure this link came from The River a while ago)

This will have the Wallstrips person, Lindsay Campbell. Could be good.

That big sucking sound you hear is the disappearance of Robert Scoble from the tech blogging scene. Don’t believe me? Count his posts. Ask yourself how “tech” are they these days? See what I mean? Gone. pfffft… no more Scoble. Okay, buh-bye, we’ll miss you and your excited ravings, Robert. Fortunately, the blogosphere abhors a vacuum, and coming up fast are two new faces in the tech blogging world. Mr. Steve Rubel, formerly some kind of marketing guy probably best remembered for dodging the ethics bullet in the Edelman/Wal-mart blog scandal has declared himself technoid, and a wonderful thing this is! Rubel says, “Tech bloggers (and I put myself squarely in this group)” have become lazy. Then he vows to mend his slackadaisical bovine ways. No longer will people seeking dry details about bits and bytes, speeds and feeds, chip-sets and semiconductor properties of rare earth elements need to consult with a boring old engineer who probably has adhesive tape mending the bow on his coke bottle glasses. Now we can tune in directly to the tech wizardry of the Long Island marketeer himself! Just as exciting, in my humble-humble-mumble-mumble, is the emergence of Loren Feldman (previously thought by many to be a satirist and social commentator) in the land of tech flogging and vlogging. Hey Scoble’s gone. Somebody has to do it! Watch here for his insightful comments on some new Mac Sushi database thingy, and then watch here for his corrections. Exciting stuff!

Okay. I have my tongue in cheek about Rubel. “Tech blogger,” my ass. But I think 1938 Media is really on to something. Keep up the good work Mr. Feldman.

Technorati Tags: how can we miss him if he won’t go away, say bye-bye to mr production values, say hello to the new kidz in town, lazy cows, bento boxing, apple sushi, Loren Feldman, Steve Rubel, Robert Scoble, bang, bang, interrobang

Peter (the Other) is taking a long break from Loose Poodle to finish his dissertation.  His blog archives are full of wonderful tales of Southern California from Santa Monica to Point Magu and beyond, Paris, the Hollywood music biz, recovery, nights on the beach, a creative life and the people populating it.  There’s enough in there to read or re-read during the next passage around the sun while we wait for him to return to compulsive blogaholism… should I actually wish that on him?  Yes, though perhaps only for my own sake and the opportunity to read what he has to share.