Day: June 24, 2016

Art Of Blogging: Quantity Or Quality

And now for something completely different…..

This will be number 9 in my thoughts on blogging……just my thoughts on why we are all here writing about what we have on our minds….my little series I have tried to cover all the aspects of this medium…..please I do not consider myself an expert by any stretch of the imagination…..just totting down the things that I gave from time to time…..

I believe that my readers deserve quality posts….I could write incessantly on all sorts of things but that would not be me…..I have pain issues and some days I do not feel that I can concentrate enough for good posts so when I feel good write a lot and store them in “drafts” so I have a supply of quality posts to choose from n those days.

The amount of visitors is important to all of us……I would love to have 1000+ visitors per day……but I am a realist I will never get that many in a day because I am basically a word of mouth blog……I follow most people that follow me and from time to time I will re-blog something from another blog…..that is if I think my readers will appreciate the content.

And when you get a comment like this one from a reader in the UK…it makes you feel like you are doing something right……

Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this blog.

It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s difficult to get that “perfect balance” between user friendliness and appearance.
I must say that you’ve done a superb job with this.
In addition, the blog loads extremely fast for me on Internet explorer.

Exceptional Blog!

Always nice to have your ego massaged a bit, HUH?

you are in point of fact a excellent webmaster. The web site loading velocity is incredible. It sort of feels that you’re doing any unique trick. Moreover, The contents are masterwork. you’ve done a wonderful task on this subject!.

It is visitors like these that make me feel I am doing something right.

But to some of my fellow bloggers the amount is the most important aspect of writing a blog…..and too many times they will forego substance to get that quantity.  They will change location several times in the search for that “magic” spot that will draw all the people that they desire……for me it is counter-productive because I believe that if prospective visitors have to hunt for me then they will just move on….then there are those that join all these blogging sites that promise you the world to get your cash…..and the visitors come but do they stay…..for me a visit is not as important as someone who takes the time to check the site out and even possibly a comment or two…..these people seem to be more concerned with finding people that will agree with their every word not trying to help people understand this complex world we live in……

There are my thoughts on quantity…..

Now let’s talk about quality…..this is what is most important to me……people that are not afraid to voice an opinion or the exchange of ideas…..matters not if we agree only that we are exchanging thoughts…..

Many visitors read a post to reply…..not to try and understand the concept presented.  But some read the title and make an assumption and reply which in most cases misses the point or just a try to propagate some misguided belief.

My greatest success in blogging is that I am regularly visited by my 13 yr old granddaughter and we discuss the stuff I write….we do not always agree but she is always open to new ideas and situations…..that my friends is how you spell………S-U-C-C-E-S-S!

Let me say here that none of this applies to everybody…..only my thoughts on what I have experienced in my years of writing a blog…..this is my 10th year…..

Like I have said these are just a few observations I have made over the years….I am by NO means an expert….If I were I would be making money off my writings but I am smarter than that….LOL

Let the weekend begin!

Up, Up And Away

(Could that be the 5th Dimension in the background?)

For the last couple of days the news has been coming at an alarming rate…..more speculation on the Orlando attack, Brexit, a sit-in by Congress and yet the most important was not worth a mention hardly…..a missile test by North Korea.

Our arch enemy PRNK has tested another missile……

North Korea is not only continuing to defy international warnings to stop testing ballistic missiles, it’s starting to get pretty good at launching them. Relatively speaking, anyway: Pyongyang launched two intermediate-range Musudan missiles in the direction of Japan on Wednesday, reports the BBC. The first one flopped almost immediately, just like four previous launches. But the second one reached an altitude of about 620 miles before plunging into the sea, raising concern in both South Korea and Japan, reports Reuters. The missile also covered about 250 miles, getting more than halfway to Japan’s coast. The BBC notes the missile’s range is much further; it’s unclear whether it fell short due to failure or was intentionally kept from reaching Japan.

“This is a very important milestone because the previous launches had blown up either very shortly after launch or possibly even right at launch,” an analyst at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California tells the Voice of America. “So this is a real sign of progress.” Japan’s defense chief put it more succinctly: “The threat to Japan is intensifying.” South Korea and the US are still assessing the test, but South Korean President Park Geun-hye denounced the “reckless provocation.” UN resolutions forbid the North from working on ballistic missile technology, notes the BBC, but the launches suggest that Pyongyang is having little trouble obtaining the technology and the know-how.

This one is a success and now the nations in the Pacific region are scratching their heads and wringing their hands……

Japan expressed concern about North Korea’s Wednesday Musudan missile launches, especially since one of the two made it more than halfway to Japan. But per Kim Jong Un, Japan shouldn’t be alone in its worry, the Guardian reports. “We have the sure capability to attack in an overall and practical way the Americans in the Pacific operation theater,” the North Korean leader said, per the KCNA state news agency. The BBC notes that, in theory, Musudan missiles have a range of 2,500 miles—far enough to touch down in the US territory of Guam. And while many of North Korea’s claims are usually dismissed as hyperbole or outright fabrication—and four previous missile launches this year failed—the second missile flew a confirmed 250 miles.

That missile, the New York Times points out, also reached a record altitude for North Korea at what the country reported was 878 miles (other sources, however, say 620 miles). A scientist with California’s Middlebury Institute of International Studies says the second missile appeared to have been launched purposely with a high angle so it wouldn’t reach Japan. “Had it been fired at its normal angle, it would have flown to its full range,” he notes, adding to the Wall Street Journal that, “if we do nothing, they will move on to a missile … that can reach the US.” The Times and Journal also explain that the sharp trajectory allowed for the testing of technology that makes a nuclear warhead resistant to heat when “breaching the earth’s atmosphere.”

So where’s the news?  I mean they have tested missiles before and it was a dismal failure….so what’s new, right?

More analysis of this successful missile test…….

Source: North Korea Claims Wednesday’s Test Proves Capability to Strike US in Pacific | World Affairs Journal

Are you starting to see the problem?

Cleveland In The Cross Hairs

Soon….very soon….the entertainment of a lifetime will commence….the GOP convention in Cleveland…..lots of speculation on what will actually happen during this week long “love” fest……will someone step up and challenge the Donald?  (Not likely…cowards will do as they are told)……will there be demonstrations?  Is there a possibility of violence?

Recently some nut job went to a Trump thing with murder on his mind….he was stopped and carted off to the hoos-cow……he was a little pasty white dude from UK and of course he was mentally ill (if they are white they are always mentally ill)…….but the question still remains…is there a possibility of some sort of violence during the convention?

I am sure that the GOP is taking all precautions to limit the possibility of any violence, right?

……a 3.3-square-mile “event zone” surrounding next month’s Republican National Convention will be prohibited from carrying tennis balls, tape, rope, bike locks, sleeping bags, or any object they could stand on to rise above the crowd and speak. They won’t be allowed to carry swords or water guns. But if they have a license, they’ll be permitted to openly carry real guns, including assault weapons.

As Cleveland gears up to host one of the most controversial GOP conventions in decades, Ohio’s permissive gun policy isn’t the only red flag raised by prospective protesters and civil rights advocates. Many also warn that the regulations put in place by the city place “unacceptable restrictions on free speech” and risk escalating conflict, rather than diffusing it, by forcing rival groups of demonstrators to share tight quarters and schedules while keeping them out of sight and earshot of delegates and the media.

Source: Cleveland Bans Soapboxes and Sleeping Bags, Not Guns, Near Republican Convention

Okay who’s bright idea was it to let guns into the convention?  Maybe they will keep them off the floor of the convention….but would that stop the chances of violence elsewhere during the event?

Like I said….entertainment at its best.

 

“Exit” Stage Right

The votes are in and It is official…..the UK will be leaving the EU……

The BBC, among others, has called it: The UK has voted to leave the European Union, sending shock waves through the EU and world economies. With almost all results in, the vote stands at 52% for Leave and 48% for Remain, the Guardian reports. Signaling discord ahead for the UK, different regions voted differently, with Remain winning easily in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and London, and Leave sweeping much of England and Wales. “Let June 23 go down in history as our independence day,” jubilant UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage told reporters. The British pound, meanwhile, tumbled to its lowest level against the dollar in more than 30 years.

Britain is the first nation ever to vote to leave the EU, which will now shrink from 28 nations to 27. As the rest of the Europe woke up to the news, anti-immigration parties in countries including the Netherlands called for their own countries to hold votes on leaving the bloc, while a senior German lawmaker warned that Britain will receive “no special treatment” and exit negotiations must be concluded within two years, reports the Telegraph, which calls the Brexit vote the biggest crisis in EU history. In Scotland, meanwhile, Scottish National Party leaders are already calling for a second referendum on leaving the UK.

The other big news is that the PM of Britain, Cameron, will be leaving in October to make way for new leadership….

What now for the EU?

Will this start a sprint of countries in search of the “exit” door?  What about Greece?

How will this effect the rest of the world?  Thanx to globalization we are all tied to each other in some way or another…….

Stop using tragedies to justify unjust new laws

Predicted that after the last horrific attack there would be a push for new laws….some want laws governing guns….while others are worried about the influx of refugees…..even some worried that a persons religion should be controlled somehow….or my fave…..new laws to limit our right to privacy or assembly…..

As typical the toads never want to waste a good tragedy to find ways to enact new laws of some sort….after some horrific attack the politicians sprint to the closest news outlet and start calling for this action or that…..

From gun control enthusiasts to Donald Trump, everyone’s living by Rahm Emanuel’s maxim these days.

In the wake of tragedy, calls to “do something” can be deafening. And since politicians never want a serious crisis to go to waste—if I can borrow the infamous phrasing of Rahm Emanuel—our government is always ready and willing to respond to these calls.

Trouble is, there’s usually a reason these post-crisis policies were previously nonstarters: they’re not good ideas.

Laws made in terror, anger, and despair appeal more to our emotions than our common sense. They tend to ride roughshod over individual rights and the limits of the Constitution. They are often unjust and ill-considered, which is (understandably) difficult to see through our tears.

Source: Stop using tragedies to justify unjust new laws – Rare

If these laws are just then why does it take a tragedy for them to be proposed?

Is it just a game?