PSoTD

It's not just for women. I'm thinking of submitting mine. C'mon, it's for charity.

Yep, I'm in. I doubt that would surprise my former UPC compatriots... I'm proud! ;)

Among the other bloggers participating: Such a Pretty Face, Random Late Night Ramblings, Geeksmakemehot.com, Being A Woman is Hard Work, Kitta.net, Talk with Desiree, Tainted Elysium, Crazy Like a Fox, Riri's Brain Dump, The life cycle of a fruitfly ...

I just submitted PSoTD as a potential news source for Google News last week.

By Monday PSoTD was rejected (not a surprise). I'm impressed at their speed!

Sad example in point: Soj at Flogging the Simian...

The truth is that someone decided to ruin all the fun for all of us and butt their nose into my private business. I've always had my two lives separated - my offline world and my online one. That's the way I wanted it and that's the way I set it up and I've got my own reasons for it. And someone decided to ruin all the fun and be a smug ass about it and go to incredibly great lengths to find out where I "live" online. And they managed to do it, and now they're all snide about it.

This happened on Tuesday I think, and I've been sitting here all week trying to figure out what to do about it. I love writing, I really do - it's not even about the money or the "job" of it, it's part of who I am. But I can't do it if I can't write in peace. Everyone else in my offline world knows this and respects this. But it just takes one bad apple to spoil the barrel I guess, right?

So what does this mean? It means it's over. It means it's finished. Kaput. FTS and everything I've worked on for the past two years is gone. I've spent all week trying to figure out a way I can do keep this place but I don't see how I can do it.

So effectively immediately, this blog is no more. And you won't find me writing on the frontpage anywhere else either. I've written emails to them and explained it as best as I could because it's not their fault. Not at all. I asked people in my offline life to stay out of my online world and everyone did it except for one person who supposedly "cares about me" and everything else. Well fuck that.

Crap. I was wondering what was up at FTS, and now we all know. This was one of the brighter lights in blogtopia, and it's a shame, all the way around. Good luck if this indeed remains the reality, Soj.

It has been suggested that I can have PSoTD added to Google News feeds if enough folks request it. And so I am curious - can I really? If you're willing to help, please use this Google News suggestion box link and request PSoTD, and then email me or post in comments and let me know you did so. I'll keep track of how many folks "recommended PSoTD", and maybe we can determine what magic number gets a blog added as a news source.

It's been a busy work week, and I've fallen behind in my bloglines reading. Here's some of the good finds of the week I've finally caught up with...

Dark Bilious Vapors: In re Firefox: facts or FUD?

War and Piece: Departing CIA #2 operations chief gives Porter Goss a big thumbs down

The Left Coaster: Dear Democrats

MyDD: I'm Not Going To Blogroll You

BlueOregon: What is a Profiteer?

Pesky' Apostrophe: Bats in the Belfry

America's Hometown: Relocation vs. Rebuilding?

I noticed there is some investing in domains of hurricane names for the future. HurricaneRita.com, the domain, was registered in 2001. HurricaneVince.com, which could happen this year, was registered in 2002. HurricaneNana.com, which could be a hurricane in 2008 as it is one of the names for that year, was registered in 2003.

But... why? There is some advertising on these sites. But could that really be the reason? HurricaneKatrina.com, the domain, is for sale by the same folks that own HurricaneRita.com. If HurricaneKatrina.com wasn't sold or donated, what chances are there that any of these other hurricane domains will or could be?

Just seems weird.

PSoTD thanks the following fine blogs for adding PSoTD to their blogrolls...

GnostiNews

Left of Center

Macswain

RichardBellikoff.com

Thanks!

Haven't highlighted a blogroll lately of a blog that blogrolls PSoTD, so thought today would be a good time to do it. Here's the blogroll for Red State Diaries:

A Bama Blog - - - Alabama-Democrat - - - Bamacrat - - - Birmingham Blues - - - Confessions of an Eggplant - - - Conservative Progress - - - Gun-Toting Liberal - - - Hanging by the News - - - Jaybeas Corpus - - - King Cockfight - - - Local Tint - - - Mr. Nevin Goes to Washington - - - Nicholas Roussos - - - Not That - - - Oubliette - - - Porchwise - - - Rurality - - - Short Bus - - - SJ the Mom - - - Stumbling Through the Lines - - - Virtual-Sanity - - - Washington Rox - - - Watchman - - - Balance of Power - - - Gutless Pacifist - - - Ignatz - - - Jason Coleman - - - Jen Michalski - - - Knight's Blog - - - Lefty Blogs - - - Locust Fork Blog - - - Meandering Vaguely Around Timnah - - - Merry Mad Monk - - - Methodist Democrat - - - Modern America - - - New Democrat - - - Piercing Wit - - - PoliBlog - - - Politicalman - - - Pros and Cons - - - PSoTD - - - Unlocked Wordhoard - - - Virginia Young Dems District 7 - - - War Liberal - - - Your Military Right - - - AL Hotline - - - Alabama Democratic Party - - - Always Right - - - American Housewife - - - Auburn Review - - - Austro-Athenian Empire - - - Brian Larry - - - Casual Critic - - - Citizen Frank - - - Cut on the Bias - - - Elizabeth Spiers - - - Ex Cathedra - - - Far From Perfect - - - Franklin Harris - - - GateTree - - - Geek Girl Blonde - - - GordonNet - - - Harper's Mews - - - Impending Distractions - - - Insane Preschool Mom - - - It Is What It Is - - - Locust Fork News - - - Lots of Co. - - - Matt Crash - - - Outside the Beltway - - - PhilosophicaLawyer - - - Pit of Babel - - - Planet Jupiter - - - Plogress Report: Alabama - - - Politics in Alabama - - - Possumblog - - - Red Hair and Black Leather - - - Redneckin' - - - Second Breakfast - - - Sin City Q - - - Southern Appeal - - - Southern Liberal - - - This Is Alabama Football - - - Unconventional Voices - - - VoteLaw - - - Watchman South - - - Weapon of Choice - - - World Around You - - - World Wide Rant - - -

Google Blog Search is unleashed.

Some interesting reading from my newest neighbors at the rankings of The Truth Laid Bear:

Econbrowser

Perhaps no statement by economists causes physical scientists more aggravation than the claim that the economic importance of energy can be measured by its dollar share in total GDP. Here I explore some of the arguments for both sides of that claim.

Gen X at 40:

Terrorism, war, natural disasters, iPods: is this going to go down as the biggest loser of a decade of all time or what? Apparently Mother Nature is working on a real doozie to cap it off...

Reflections in d minor:

I have always been on the outside of cultural phenomena. I was too young for Woodstock. I've never seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I never even got into Friends and Seinfeld. And now, there's this Burning Man thing. Apparently it's been going on for several years but I had never heard of it until last night.

I have to speak up here. I'm just not sure how someone could not hear of Burning Man over the years... And to compare it, even tangently, to Friends and Seinfeld? Bad form.

These days, I'm as interested in building my RSS feed audience as I am my actual site visitors. I am, apparently, clueless on how to do this. I use my Bloglines account as a measuring rod for progress. Sad to say, I don't see much in the ways of progress - to date PSoTD has 11 subscribers. Comparing that to Eschaton's 4,596 subscribers or even A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago's 27 subscribers makes my number seem rather... measly. I'm not saying that my subscriber base should be similar. But since my visitor traffic is growing, I'd expect my subscriber base to grow - and it really isn't.

I'm open to suggestions on design or other ways to improve subscriptions. Because, I'm somewhat bewildered about this. Please comment.

I wonder if Google has considered improving their news search engine at all. At first blush, it seems pretty good, but if you regularly use it and notice all the local newspapers that it fails to collect from around the country, you realize it's pretty weak, actually. 4,500 English language sites seems like a lot of sources until you really want to dig.

Especially when you realize that while they're not indexing many legitimate local news publishers around the United States, they are throwing The Jawa Report in the mix as news.

C'mon.

Check it out.

Time for a note of appreciation to the following fine blogs that have added PSoTD to their blogroll...

No More Mister Nice Blog

Progressive Society Blog

Much appreciated, thanks!

C'mon, you knew I had to ask Norbizness (you know, from Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with Norbizness) some questions. How can one ignore one of the funniest bloggers around? Well, other than by becoming a Republican...

I tried to make the questions fit Norbizness, but that may be impossible. My questions bolded, responses blockquoted, yadayadayada. Here goes...

You're surrounded by a gang that wants to kick your ass. You're given the option of picking three conservative bloggers to help you fight your way out. Which three do you pick?

(1) Michelle Malkin, for sure. I'm told that her crazy face has the ability to stop the hearts of lesser mortals. I myself suffered a small coronary just clicking over on that link.

(2) One of the dipshits from Powerline, because I'm told that the Time Magazine Blog of the Year certificate of authenticity conveys special powers to its recipients (apart from the special power of becoming an even more gargantuan set of assholes).

(3) Hugh Hewitt. One look at/listen to him from the assorted gang members, and the impetus to kick my ass dissipates and is transferred over to him. We're talking East-side Latin Kings initiate-style beatdown.

What would your casting be if Fox remade "Broadcast News" with Fox News personnel, and how would the plot change?

See, this is good. I never saw that movie.

Why didn't you see Broadcast News?

Something about William Hurt makes me want to walk towards the nearest living thing and kill it.

What does norbizness mean, and can people call you norby?

It's just an old nickname, based on the root word "business." When somebody, in our vernacular, got "business-like" or was "taking care of business", it meant they were smashed, baked, tripping, shrooming, or otherwise fucked up.

What has been Bush's biggest secret screwup, one that nobody has any inkling about... yet?

Based on the failure of the six-party talks in Pyongyang, a North Korean ICBM with nuclear payload has actually been launched and destroyed most of Oklahoma, but nobody has seemed to notice or care (HOOK 'EM!).

What is your pin code at your ATM machine?

I'm totally off the grid.

When are you going to get that Hollywood gig, and can I leech some meaningless job out of it when you do?

Hollywood Video keeps rejecting my applications on the grounds that "burning abandoned warehouses for no apparent reason" is not a legitimate job skill. As for your pathetic request... have some shrimp and salsa-flavored Ramen.

Mmmm, salsa-flavored. Thanks Norbizness!

I have 284 feeds on my bloglines accounts, and at times like this, the amount of posts are overwhelming. I'm sure Peter Daou is tracking considerably more. There's probably 4 or 5 times the number of quality posts he selects available to him at any one time, but still, going through them all is a considerable task.

So, help me out. Link in comments below the blog posts you think should be checked out.

You can check it out for yourself, at BlogsNow.

Sounds like an interesting rebuilding idea for homes in a "bowl":

Holland is Europe's most densely occupied country, and two-thirds of the Dutch live below sea level. If there are to be more houses, more land will have to be created for them, or they will have to be built beside water. The country has been creating artificial land, or polder, for centuries. There are minor floods here every two or three years; dykes, canals and windmills driving water pumps have kept the new land safe, yet these will have to be ever taller, broader and more hard-working as the water level rises. According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, rainfall in the Netherlands could increase by up to 25% and the sea level rise 43 in during the course of this century.

Dr Chris Zevenbergen, environment director of the construction company Dura Vermeer, and the driving force behind the Maasbommel project, believes the solution is to build amphibious houses, new towns and extensions of existing cities on flood plains and river banks. Floating houses, Zevenbergen says, "could make up 40% of the shortfall in land suitable for development [in Holland] over the next 50 years".

Designed by Grer Krengen of Factor Architecten, Arnhem, for Dura Vermeer, the new Dutch houses are built of timber and concrete. The hollow concrete pontoons that serve as foundations will be able to rise, guided up a pair of 15ft concrete piles, when the flood waters come. The clapboard superstructure, meanwhile, is light and boat-like. Flexible pipes and ducts are designed to ensure that water, gas and electricity supplies, and sewage disposal function even when the houses rise a whole story. Boats can be moored alongside. Inside, the houses are bright, breezy, split-level, unselfconsciously modern and, understandably, popular with residents. Views from the bedroom and living-room balconies across and along the Maas are a delight.

The Maasbommel project may yet be extended on a grand scale: there are plans for a new floating town of 12,000 homes near Schiphol airport, which could include floating schools, hospitals and shops. Concrete bunkers beneath the buildings will store flood water for reuse, and Zevenbergen says that in times of national emergency, the land "can be flooded safely; the government recognises you cannot stop floods from happening, you can only control the impact". The floating city is at the feasibility stage, but Zevenbergen expects construction to begin in 2010.

Elsewhere, Ooms Avenhorn, a firm of houseboat builders, and architects OX Universal Studio are planning to build a floating neighbourhood at Leeuwarden. "We will go from 150 newly built waterproof houses a year today to 20,000 in about 20 years' time [throughout the country]," says Koen Olthuis of OX Universal Studio. "These can be houses on stilts or mounds, buildings that are lifted when the water rises, or simply houses on floating platforms."