Blogging: Technical Irritations

For non-bloggers, this post may be a bit meaningless but I'm getting really frustrated with some technical aspects of blogging.  Haloscan is a particular annoyance. It sometimes registers comments i.e. counts them and sometimes it doesn't. On other occasions comments disappear off into the ether. I suppose this is just a product of using free third party software. I'd welcome any insight. Also Blogger has its own frustrations. I'm thinking of switching hosts. When I come back from my trip I'll do some homework...

Another Sidebar Cleanup

It's time for another tidy-up of the sidebar. Thus I've purged dead links and also removed some that no longer quite pique my interest. And I've added a few new ones although sensible suggestions for fresh and exciting sites are most welcome. I've also got rid of a lot of junky buttons that mostly didn't work.  Anyway here's the summary:

Exits

Baghdad Burning
Writer and family have left Baghdad for safety reasons. Poor buggers.

Ionetics
No longer about science.

Mini Crazy
Stefan –where did you go?

Rockall Times
Tag line “There’s f*** all on Rockall”. Blogging finished a long time ago and now there’s just f*** all.

Shakesville
This excellent site was brought down by malicious hackers. Bastards. Now it’s reverted back to its roots (Shakespear’s Sister).

Tiny Voices in My Head
Dawn has given up blogging to be a rock star. Best of luck (said without irony).

Two Glasses
The posts were more and more about sports I don’t understand (y’know, the American ones) and less and less about politics.

Walking the StreetsMr. Stickers has moved to Canada and now only operates a closed blog.


Entrances

Aetiology
I’m cheating here as I quietly added this one a little while back. Anyway, an excellent bio-science/medical blog by Tara Smith.

Arse Poetica
Great political commentary.

Canadian Cynic
Excellent snarky socio-political commentary from a hilarious Canuck.

English Soldier
Fascinating diaries of an English soldier in WW1: I love this historical stuff.

Embattled

I
Mad Dog has been under siege for the past month

Phew, over a month since a post. Sorry everybody but I've had the busiest month in recent living memory, quite possibly since returning to these shores in 2001. All memories of my Grecian vacation are long gone and I've felt like a candidate for karoshi. Here's a list of just a few of the things I've been up to (there's a few I haven't mentioned too).

• Organised and endured one major project review meeting

• Entertained several collaborators from overseas

• Received a contract to write a book on Vaccines

• Dealt with a mountain of paperwork

• Booked a trip to Thailand for a conference later this month

• Applied for entry to the 2008 Monte Carlo Historique rally

• Had another fibrosarcoma-like lump removed from my cat

• Filed my income tax return

• Become certified in CPR and First Aid

• Fired a machine gun (yes, really –and before you ask, it was quite legal)

And this is not the complete list. Anyway I'll try to pick up some momentum in the next few days.

Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible

Did I mention that from today I'm off to the Ionian Islands (via London) for a couple of weeks? I did? Fancy that. Anyway in the unlikely event that I'll find myself in a wireless broadband zone, normal blogging will be resumed on or after October 1.

Go Zorba José...

Yassas.

You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello

In the interests of keeping this site fresh and clutter free I've been reviewing the links. So...

Goodbye
Sane Scientist
Sorry old chap but one post in four months is not blogging and in anycase that piece you wrote on cats was a bit off. I'll reinstate you if you start writing again.

Chestnut Tree
Site taken down.

Kung Fu Monkey
Great title but content a little dull for my tastes. Nothing about Kung Fu, needless to say.


Hello
Wasting Words
A very charismatic and interesting site.I'm not sure what it's all about, though but I'm intrigued.

Nobody's Friend
Arty, cryptic and curiously engaging.

This latest sort-out leaves me with a net loss of one in my links. I'd like to keep numbers up if possible but so many of these weblogs fizzle. Or become dull or sometimes nasty. There are quite a few on my watch list but none are particularly compelling (I've just spent 30 minutes going through them). If anyone would like to nominate candidates for linkage please let me know.