My mind is numb as I type. A long week finally behind. The very hot weather, #WeinerGate, the "Gay Girl in Damascus" hoax and the economy have demanded much attentionThe text is unfinished from that point on... Now I have returned to the computer after a refreshing sleep. The morn is cool and rainy. After a bit of reflecting, I've made some decisions and some conclusions. Here they are, for what they are worth.
A distracted media is a warning whistle. Mainstream publications (and Conservative blogs) were swept up with the Rep. Anthony Weiner tale. Oh yes, I blogged about it as well, but I'm based in New York and I've followed the Clintons and Huma Abedin for quite some time, to which regular readers of this humble weblog will attest. Bloggers worldwide, those not caught in the grips of #WeinerGate, were either transfixed on the Syrian lesbian blog hoax or gung-ho probing the NYC rape of the hotel chambermaid story. looking back, I see all of these items taking up way too much time and space: the U.S. msm has now switched away from Weiner and on to Sarah Palin's e-mails, as if they were rats that had tunnelled into a cheese factory.
Guru Bloggers are a pox. It's the old pyramid scheme re-imagined for the digital era. You send Lady M $27 for her wonderful amazing blogging course and then you in turn can re-sell it and pocket $17 of every sale. In one case, I've seen this balooned to the point where this particular course is hawked by everyone and his brother, from A-list bloggers to sheepherders down under. Nobody's gettin' rich. Except Lady M.
I'm going to sell some stuff. It won't be blogging advice. i give that away for FREE on my One Minute Blogger site. I do have other items, creations, if you will, that I plan to offer to select niches. That brings me to...
...blog redesign. I was poking around blogger the other day and found the materials I need to improve this blog, I think 100%, to get it into a template and format that I believe will not only bring it up to 2011 standards but remain within the Google realm of protection. What's that, you say? A couple years ago a blogger friend was stark raving mad. They thought their blog had been attacked by hackers. Turns out two things happened at around the same time, and the blogger had not checked her blog for a few days. Her image hosting service had expires. Adding insult to injury, the guy who authored her template let his domain expire. She lost her template and images in one 24-hour period. But things got worse. Her own domain expired. And somebody swooped in and grabbed her blog's name (and of course all her traffic: she'd been getting about 400 visitors a day). So say what you will about Google and blog*spot. the service is less likely to (1)cost you any money and (2) fail if you forget to pay the bill or if your template designer checks his or her website.
I'm not sure how soon I'll change everything. Depends on demands on my time. As a matter of fact, I have to leave right now for New York City. I'll be back online later.