My how time flies when you are having fun. Smijer and I are two guys brought together by Neal Boortz [...]]]> I was messing around just yesterday in some old emails that I still have and realized that it was exactly 5 years ago today that Smijer sent me an email inviting me to be a co-blogger on this site.

My how time flies when you are having fun. Smijer and I are two guys brought together by Neal Boortz of all people. But as it is our relationship has lasted longer than a lot of marriages.

Through this blog I have been exposed to a lot of folks that I otherwise would have never known. More than once I have been shown the error of my ways and have learned that when the light of truth passes through the prism of opinion the colors produced are infinite. I am sure that that is how it should be.

I would list the people I have been introduced to through this blog whose blogs have impacted my life in some way but it would not be fair because I know I would leave somebody out. Suffice it to say that I have gotten from this blog exponentially more than I have ever put into it.

I was led here by Neal Boortz. I stayed because I enjoy reading Smijer’s stuff and am always amazed by the depths of his inquiry. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the smartest man I have never met.

So at some point this afternoon I will lift my glass to the last 5 years and take a long, slow swallow to Smijer and all of the folks who come to this blog and who have made my life a lot more interesting than it otherwise would have been.

And thank you Smijer. For inviting me in and letting me stay.

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What the hell are we supposed to do if we want an ice cream or something?

Shoot flares up into the air when we start to hear the [...]]]> Yeah, the guy (or girl, …who the hell knows?) drives through here like clockwork at 4:30 pm every single day. Problem is…he/she is driving 55 mph when he/she does so.

What the hell are we supposed to do if we want an ice cream or something?

Shoot flares up into the air when we start to hear the faint traces of “Three Blind Mice” hovering through the treetops?

Should I spike the road?

Should I go to ebay, buy, and assemble an American made RPG from Iranians and shoot a warning shot across the bow of his truck as he/she blazes through?

This guy (or girl, who knows?) has got to be even broker than I am.

When this guy/girl went through the initial on the job training for this position…they must have told him/her to go stand in the corner of a round room…and he/she hasnt quit running since.

…and along the same subject lines. I have noticed Ice Cream Trucks traveling the roads frequently at midnight or later in the Rossville area.

Now, having spent some good quality time in the downtown neighborhoods, I can attest to the fact that not all Ice Cream Trucks sell only Ice Cream.

No, I am not talking about popsicles or nachos either.

I am talking about the Doctor Feelgood stuff.

Now, I also know the police are all over the Rossville area by sheer experience. Do they not scratch their head when they see an Ice Cream Truck at one O’clock in the morning tearing ass through random neighborhoods?

I will shut up now, go to Wally World…and buy my own damned ice cream.

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I’ve also added a button to make it even easier to add this site to your Google [...]]]> I’ve added a plug-in that will allow you to edit your own comments within 30 minutes of posting. Unfortunately, the edit icon doesn’t appear as soon as you post – you have to refresh the page to get it.

I’ve also added a button to make it even easier to add this site to your Google Reader list (ahem…). If you aren’t using Google Reader, but are using gmail, then you should consider it. Your RSS feeds, including read status and favorites – follow you anywhere, and you don’t have to remember another password. Other features include tracking your reading status, easy e-mailing of posts you like, and sharing of posts to your gmail friends.

I use Reader to subscribe to most of the sites in my blogroll and maybe a dozen others that I don’t have space for. Where I used to miss posts more often than not, I now catch every one that goes up. The challenge is having time to read it all. That’s a good challenge for me.

If you aren’t using gmail, you should consider signing up. I started it two or three PCs ago, when my e-mail client (outlook express) suddenly quit working. I’m hooked. Gmail will also poll any POP account, and can send SMTP through your other accounts as well (so that you don’t have to use the gmail address unless you like). I don’t know if gmail still requires invitations, but if it does and you want one, just let me know.

Update: Ok – there’s a contact page now, too, so you can e-mail us.

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Related posts – probably the slowest element, but only loads on individual posts (not the front page).

Post [...]]]> Trying to jazz up the reading experience a smidgeon here. Unintended consequences are mainly that pages are slow to load. Here’s what’s new and expendable – leave a note if you have a preference on what gets the axe:

Related posts – probably the slowest element, but only loads on individual posts (not the front page).

Post displays author’s gravatar, besides name – pretty slow, but makes it clear who wrote which. May have more importance as more authors come on board.

ShareThis – options to make post links to social networking sites. Nobody uses this right now, but I hope that some will one day, if and when users of such sites find something worth sharing.

Recent Comments in the sidebar – I like sites that use this, as it helps identify where the latest discussion is quickly and easily. Doesn’t seem to slow the page terribly.

My Twitter Feed – not sure what the point of having this is… I still haven’t figured Twitter out, really. But it doesn’t seem to slow us down much.

Stuff you can’t see – like Google Analytics, which I don’t really use much but doesn’t seem to slow us down much. StatPress – a site statistics deal that seems to record way more hits than site-meter, but doesn’t give them to me in a very usable format.

I’m also considering adding WP-cache or WP-supercache to speed up page loading. I’m just not sure if that will cause us to lose some real-time comment updates or kill other plug-ins, considering that it renders the page in HTML.

Thoughts?

Update: the current configuration doesn’t like WP-cache at all.

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Feed enhanced by Better Feed from [...]]]> I added HotAir (at least for now), Ace of Spades, and Facing South. Thanks for the input, everyone – especially you, RW.

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That may not mean much to you, but to me, it means a vacancy on my RSS aggregator sidebar. I try to keep up with at least a few conservative [...]]]> Say goodbye to Captain’s Quarters, the erstwhile home of Bush Deadender (humor, people) Ed Morrisey. He’s joined up with Michelle Malkin’s aptly named Hot Air.

That may not mean much to you, but to me, it means a vacancy on my RSS aggregator sidebar. I try to keep up with at least a few conservative outlets to keep from getting to deep into the echo chamber, and I found Ed’s stuff to be more readable and more likely to bring up something I didn’t already know about than most of his conservative competition. So, I subscribe to his feed, using the only news aggregator I use – the one on the sidebar of this blog.

I like to check RedState from time to time – especially on the night of a debate or an election return, but I’ve never found them worth regular attention.

Toys in the Attic has gone non-political on me, and besides – I’m already subscribed there.

I just don’t know if I can stomach Powerline blog, and Instapundit is just too pithy (heh, indeed).

So, what should I do with that extra space on the sidebar now?

I could handle Dean’s World. Despite the tagline (“Defending the liberal tradition in history, science, and philosophy”), Dean and his contributors are pretty reliably right of center on most issues, at least for anyone drawing the “center” line anywhere to the left of Sean Hannity. But Dean and company are sometimes right about something – so maybe that’s too easy an out…

What about a New Hampshire Republican with Libertarian Leanings? I have a bit of a soft-spot for libertarianism. I even enjoyed The Fountainhead quite a lot. I don’t know much about this guy – I’ve never really read him. I don’t know anything libertarian about him – on the contrary, I see that he is an apologist for torture. But his fare is really no worse than the standard conservative blog. Call him the dark horse of the sidebar race.

American Geek specializes in “Heritage Quotes”, almost to the exclusion of all else. Some of them are pretty good. His sidebar Ponderables includes this nugget:

“While our troops go out to defend our country, it is incumbent upon us to make the country worth defending.”

– Deskmerc

On the other hand, the internet is rife with quotations pages, categorized by subject matter, if that’s what you want.

I used to be a fan, somewhat, of the Volokh Conspiracy. That is, until I chronicled their relentless and vacuous torture apologia a year or two back (I’ll spare you the link). Should I let bygones be bygones? Am I going to find a conservative blog to subscribe to without expecting the occasional apologetic for torture?

Dr. Helen is a Knoxvillian, which gives her two extra points starting out. She isn’t all politics all the time, which is sometimes a good thing. On the other hand, she isn’t all politics all the time, which means that I’m not getting a full helping of conservatism there.

So…

[poll=6]

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1. Should they have been there in the first place?

Well, maybe. When you consider that prior attendees have been Jose Canseco, Mark McQwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Miguel [...]]]> Baseball great Roger Clemens and former trainer Brian McNamee appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to give, under oath, two completely different versions of the same story.

1. Should they have been there in the first place?

Well, maybe. When you consider that prior attendees have been Jose Canseco, Mark McQwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Miguel Tejada…and Barry “U.S.” Bonds…then, why not?

Everyone in Congress who attended got in their two cents worth, knowing all the while, that they had a huge TV audience….maybe even an unprecedented TV audience as far as they are concerned.

Previously the Congressional Oversight Committee did help to prompt Bud Selig to do something about the steroid problem, that was potentially about to destroy MLB, by getting him to nominate George Mitchell to do a comprehensive and controversial “report” about steroids in MLB following the release of Jose Cansecos “tell-all” book “Juiced“. 

MLB has since implemented all of Mitchells’ recommendations and, as a result, MLB is now widely regarded as having the toughest steroids testing program in professional sports.

So…do the ends justify the means?

2. Clemens has no rights?

If you think the man has committed a crime then charge him with a crime, arrest him, and afford him the rights that every other citizen gets when they are charged with a crime…assume the presumption of innocence.

Just because he is an icon…and the American public looooves tearing down their icons…dont put him and his family in front of a national audience to have him answer questions about certain things that wouldnt even be admissable in just about any other courtroom in the country.

3. Was it really a serious inquiry to begin with?

I mean, seriously folks, how many times will a potential defendant get to “rub elbows” with the prosecutors (signing autographs, taking pictures) prior to his own trial?

Did Judge Ito get to say “Hey, OJ, before you get sent up the river, …will you sign this for my grandson??”

4. Was it a level playing field?

I guess, …once you got past the fact that most of the Repulicans tried to tear McNamee to shreads and most of the Democrats tried to tear Clemens to shreads…so, maybe it was sort of level.

5. Guilty or innocent?

Except for the bat throwing incident…I like Clemens…mostly.

I like Greg Maddux better for personal reasons…and Greg won 4 Cy-Youngs in a row (at that time never before done in the history of the game) and during a four year period had an ERA of under 2 (not done since Walter “The Train” Johnson)…and I dont want someone who “cheated” to take the limelight away from what might have been one of the top 5 pitchers to ever play the game.

…but I do like Clemens. But I also think he perjured himself. 

One simple scenario: No one questions Pettittes’ character…not even Clemens.

Now, Pettitte, Knoblauch, and Stanton …not to mention Clemens’ own wife have all said that what McNamee said about them was true…he injected them with steroids.

Clemens, on the other hand, wants the world to believe what McNamee said about him was false, yet correct about Pettitte, Stanton, Knoblauch…and yes, even his own wife.

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Feed enhanced by Better Feed [...]]]> RW is suspending business indefinitely, and that makes me sad. Cheers to you, RW & all the best in everything you do. Come back if and when you can – you’ll have plenty of folks eager to visit.

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