Archive for the ‘Bad Blogging’ Category

[singlepic=5,430,101,,left] So in case you didn’t hear, a few weeks ago one of our delightful (sigh) Presidential candidates decided to use an average American citizen playing catch in his front yard in his campaign. why? Well because when you’re trying to suck up to a specific group of people you choose one of them to be your example, right? Yeah, well apparently it didn’t work out too well for the poor guy–Joe Wurzelbacher–who has since become a rather juicy target for various media pundits who think that it might be fun to destroy some guy for the crime of being “some guy”.

Well, my friends–Screw that. I realize that as America devolves into dangerously “Atlas Shrugged”-like territory it will increasingly be the middle class folks who are thrashed from both ends (the poor looking for a free ride, the elite rich [let me be clear: generations-old inherited rich, not those who have earned their way up the ladder] looking to soak the average guy every which way they can), but this is ridiculous.

In defense of Joe, the IowaHawk blog has begun a fascinating new Meme intended to express solidarity with Joe. The idea is that each of us who are similar folk to Joe–meaning your average middle class working stiff just trying to make a living without sucking on the government teet and otherwise living and let live–should post the above banner and make it clear who we are and that we stand together. It makes no difference if you consider yourself a Democrat, Republican, or one of the better other parties out there, anyone can join. In the end we’re all pretty damn similar in that we care about our country, our family and friends, and generally being the most decent person we can manage most of the time.

I have said before and I’ll say it again: this is NOT a political site or blog in any way and I do not endorse or support either the Democratic or Republican parties nor their oh-so-similar candidates. What I do support and endorse is the hard working men and women of this country who work, produce and achieve–at any level you’re able to do so. You are the people who make this country work at all, and neither the leaches below you nor the pirates above you on the social ladder can ever take that away.

Unless you let them.

I am Joe.

As you may have noticed, I’ve added a new category to the site: Average Length Short Stories. Now, given that the focus of the site is clearly “Damn Short Stories”, you may be wondering why in the heck I would do this. The answer is actually very simple and obvious: Sometimes a story just can’t be made to fit into the space of a single page. Some topics, some events, need more room to really be what they can be. Or as I have been thinking of it in reference to the first story in the new category, it needs more space in order for a proper respect to be paid to the subject matter.

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While this isn’t a site about video games in any way, the topic is still near and dear to my heart. In no situation is this more true than in the case of small independent developers who overcome the amazing obstacles required to break into the big time. It is for this reason that I’m briefly going to talk about 2DBoy‘s new masterpiece of game design, World of Goo. In ways that most games will never achieve, WoG is simple, yet deep and complex. It’s graphics are simple yet strikingly beautiful. It’s so easy a child could pick it up and understand the basics, yet so complex that an adult could struggle for an hour on some of the harder levels. It tells a story, but only if you’re looking for it; it has a message, but it doesn’t preach at all. For a more full review, visit Ugly Baby Studios.

If you have a PC or you have a Nintendo Wii, you simply must get this game. You will find it on PC for $20 to download, or on WiiWare for $15. You can’t go wrong either way, and I encourage everyone to buy a copy both for your own selfish enjoyment and to support the two–yes TWO–guys who created this game while working on their laptops at a coffee shop. If that’s not passion, I don’t know what passion is, and in my mind that deserves to be rewarded. If you’ve ever thought a game could or might be art, you owe it to yourself to try this one out. This is art.

So today I became acquainted with the idea of mind mapping in a web based application. Now of course, I’ve known about mind mapping itself for ages, but I am so scatterbrained that when I draw them out on paper I tend to lose them, which entirely invalidates the point of the exercise. Today, though, I learned that there are some pretty decent free web-based apps that you can sign up for, and these can really help you organize your thoughts. For me this is very important because I’ll tell you, some days I think I have alzheimers disease way too damn soon.

In any case, I stumbled across a few very interesting free apps today and thought I’d share. The first one I found is Bubbl (really, there’s no e, it’s not just me going ditzy), which is pretty entry level, but it’s extremely fast and easy to use. I played with it for a couple of hours and it really helped me get acquainted with Mind Mapping again. In fact it was so good at getting me excited about the technique that it compelled me to go looking for more full-featured mind mappers (which lead me to question whether Bubbl might in fact be more effective than it should be at this point in its development, but that’s another story). That lead me to find MindMeister, Mind42 and Mindomo (Creative names, huh?), all of which I tested for an hour or more today. For myself, I have settled on MindMeister because it allows you to upload files to supplement your mind maps, and to me that is important. All 4 of the apps are good, solid programs that you should certainly try out if you’re interested in the idea of Mind Mapping. If you’re as disorganized as I tend to be, this is a technique that can really help you get yourself together. 

If you decide to try any of these out, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences!

So if you’ve ever glanced a bit to the right of one of my posts, you may have noticed that one of my link categories includes “blogs I like”. What you don’t get is much of an explanation of why it is that I like these particular blogs. In order to rectify that a bit, I thought I’d take a moment and discuss each one just briefly. Hopefully that will provide a little insight into the world through my eyes, and perhaps even offer a little thank you to those who run these blogs. Don’t forget to read the whole post after the break! You can either click the link below the post or click the title to get the full scoop!

FreeSpace: This is the website of my friend Tim Sandefur, someone whom I’ve known for well over half my life and who is always at the ready with advice, constructive thoughts and a helluva lot of perspective on a lot of issues.

His blog primarily focuses on the political and philosophical meaning of events in America and the world, and his perspective is always extremely learned and well articulated. We don’t always agree (mostly because I simply haven’t the background to often understand the “big picture” of some kinds of events in the way a trained person such as Tim does), but I always find a new understanding and a richer perspective by reading his work.

Beyond that, I should also mention that in the many years that Tim and I have been friends I have also been well acquainted and at many times close to his parents Mark and Julie, and his cousin Danny. They are each of them exemplary people who have made an epic difference in my life and have served as examples to me of what a person can reach for and achieve with hard work, hope and optimism. I haven’t invested nearly enough effort in staying in closer contact with them in recent years, a fact that I need to change. Thanks, Tim-both for your friendship and for that of your awesome family.

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