Here's a new viral thread working its way through the DNA of the blogosphere:

1. Why did you start a blog?
I'd flirted off and on with the idea of being a writer, and wanted to force myself to write regularly (unfortunately, I've been more of a linker than a writer recently).

2. Do you have a blogmother/blogfather?
Not really, though my first permalink came from Prof. Chris Hall.

3. Has it helped/hurt/had no effect on your professional life?
It has had little effect on my professional life. I did remodel my law department's website using the html and css skills I learned blogging, so maybe it helped more than hurt.

4. Do your 'real world' friends know that you blog?
Many, but not all. Few read it.

5. Do you have a blog crush?
No.

(First seen at Ted's site, where I answered them in comments).

Posted by: JohnL at 09:57 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 155 words, total size 1 kb.

I know he's on the other side of the date line, so this comes a day late for him, but I would like to extend a Texas-sized birthday greeting to Pixy Misa, the proprietor of this funky little blog community known as Munuviana.

Bandwidth and server space aren't free, but he makes them seem that way.

Thanks, Pixy.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 64 words, total size 1 kb.

Strengthen the Good is a network of bloggers who seek to highlight opportunities for "microcharity" -- the ability to make a positive difference in our world with even a small donation.

Please read this post at STG, and then follow the link to the highlighted foundation, the Brent Woodall Foundation for Exceptional Children. This is an appropriate way to honor the memory of one victim of 9-11 while also helping make the world a better place. If you believe this a worthy cause, I encourage you to donate even a small amount.

Thanks!

Update: I originally posted this on Monday September 13 at 23:18 CDT. I am post-dating it to September 17 so it will stay at the top of the page throughout the week.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 133 words, total size 1 kb.

I saw this new Amazon internet search engine at SFSignal today and naturally had to search "TexasBestGrok."

I was highly gratified to see my blog come up first. And, like the guys at SFSignal, I found the linked images feature pretty cool, too.

Along with the traditional search results on the left, a sidebar on the right was populated with images ranging from the Texas Republic circa 1845, to SpaceShipOne, to the appealing ladies of Buck Rogers in the 25th century.

Posted by: JohnL at 06:27 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 89 words, total size 1 kb.

This is one cool machine.

Language geek aside: This site appears to be in Finnish. How do I know that? It looks like Tolkien's Elvish.

Via Utterly Boring.

Posted by: JohnL at 07:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.

While I've been slacking off for the last few weeks, tweaking the templates and stylesheets of my site, Alan Brain has been posting a terrific variety of articles on subjects ranging from Iran's missile program and the US/Israeli ABM response to it, to a tale of two very cool naval vessels (including the Australian role in the high-tech design of each), to coverage of the Beslan terrorist atrocity.

I hit his tipjar tonight, and encourage you to do the same.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 92 words, total size 1 kb.

Sorry for the lack of content recently. I've been struggling with getting a stable 3-column css layout that doesn't look too busy.

The middle column still needs some work, I think, but I wanted to go ahead and throw this out there for feedback from my few regular readers.

Please email or comment with feedback on the new look.

Thanks!

Update: Make that 99.9% complete! Thanks for the feedback and compliments. Especially thanks to Madfish Willie for some solid, constructive criticism. I got rid of the dotted line under the banner, as well as the link-underlining in the sidebars. I also moved the sitemeter and scripts down to the bottom right, so that they would load last; I noticed they were keeping the right bar from loading quickly. Any other comments still welcome!

Posted by: JohnL at 12:52 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 139 words, total size 1 kb.