mjh's blog

My Back Pages

You probably already know no blog can contain me. Or is it, satisfy me. As a multi-faceted person, I have multiple blogs. Compartmentalizing my thoughts doesn’t always work, however, and I become conflicted about risking redundancy in cross-posts versus going unread, a fate worse than undead.

Here’s the overview:

• www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/ – You’re soaking in it now. Part political, personal without being icky.
• www.mjhinton.com/wild/ – Ah, Wilderness!, where I write about the wild.
• www.mjhinton.com/help/ – PC Training & Consulting (since 1984), where I write about computer topics.
• www.flickr.com/photos/mjhinton/ – My photoblog; my joy.

All of the above have RSS feeds for the nerds. The latest headlines from each can be found at www.edgewiseblog.com. (Scroll down for links to a few of my friends.)

Lately, I’ve started blogging at DukeCityFix. I’m tempted by the potential audience. (Not so much that I would abandon my loyal readers here. Remember, I’ve eschewed a citywide audience before.) Even on theFix, I have two trains of thought:

• www.dukecityfix.com/profile/mjh/ – I’ll write here occasionally about topics I feel warrant the attention of DCF readers who can’t drag themselves across the Web to this blog.
• www.dukecityfix.com/group/openspace/ – Less mine than ours, this is a place to extol Abq’s open space.

As you see, I’m really out there. You also see, I hope, that I enjoy all of this, but understand my enjoyment is deepened by your time and attention. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

PS: Oh, yeah, I’m even on myspace (http://www.myspace.com/techeditor), but that’s so last year.

The Web That Joins Us

So much about Tim Berners-Lee’s invention of the Web was brilliant, but perhaps especially so the use of the word “web.” This Web connects us through tools Tim couldn’t have imagined — like blogs.

I am happy to write and, if you are happy to read, everything is great. But unlike so much media, a blog provides easy means for feedback. You are welcome to write me directly (mark@mjhinton.com). You are welcome to comment publicly (see the link near the end of each entry). I understand the hesitation in commenting, but it is part of the process — it’s good for us all.

Now, you are also welcome to rate any entry. Ratings are averaged and highest and most rated (high or low) entries are highlighted to the left near the top of the sidebar. (WordPress users may want to know this involves a plugin: WP-PostRatings.)

I assume many entries won’t warrant any rating at all. I also assume few will merit 5 stars and I hope none will merit 1 star. But the system is in place for you to use, to help me and to show other readers those entries they shouldn’t miss. mjh

PC Training & Consulting Weblog

I have a blog for computer and Web information. I’ve just switched it over to WordPress and am preparing to use it more frequently than of late. Perhaps you are interested in such things. mjh

PC Training & Consulting Weblog

Ah, Wilderness!

I have been updating my Ah, Wilderness! blog. Have a look. peace, mjh

Around the Blog

Along with more conventional writing, I love to tinker with code. One of the reasons I switched to WordPress from MoveableType, and, before that, GreyMatter, is the accessibility of its PHP and MySQL code, as well as a host of third-party plug-ins, most of which allow lots of tweaking.

So, you may have noticed a few new things in the left-hand sidebar and elsewhere:

“Popular Entries” ranks entries by hits (always a suspect number). This might help you discover an entry you’ve missed. Bear in mind that most people read the main page (index.php) without ever going to a specific entry page. So, most of the numbers under this heading are from people going directly to that entry page, either via RSS-feeds or search engines. There is an odd bug with the first item under that heading: the count is for index.php but the title displayed is always the top entry; in effect, each new entry in turn seems to be the most popular.

“Top Links” ranks the links people follow leaving this main blog page. So, this shows links people have chosen to follow, for what that’s worth. (It certainly interest me.)

“Recent Comments” have been showing for a while and may be self-explanatory.

Further down the sidebar are category links (each with its own RSS feed) and number of entries in each category. Then, “Blogs I read” (just a few of them), and my other blogs. Next you will find all the members of the Edgewiseblog Collective, my web-hosting and blog-evangelizing site/service, then links to WordPress related sites for plug-ins and such. Finally, you’ll see the 5 most recent photos in my flickr photo site.

You should see flickr photos in between each entry, as well. These are random; each is a thumbnail you can click to see the larger version. Those of you who have Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer may see a difference here (and elsewhere).

For items in the poems or photos category, I have added a method to “vote” or rate the poem or picture. To do so, place your mouse over the 1st (lowest) to 5th (highest) star before clicking.

I have recently added a “Random Entry” link between each entry to encourage you to explore the archives. The constant flow of new entries is the life-blood of blogging but leads us to forget or ignore what’s gone before.

Towards encouraging reading of older stuff, I’ve added a “my favs” category and will flag a few entries I think are worth a re-visit.

You are always welcome to let me know what you think, in comments or email. Thanks for reading. mjh

Merri’s Dance and Music eNews

Welcome Merri’s Dance and Music

eNews to the EdgeWiseBlog-fold. mjh

John Osnes, Pianist (New York, New York)

Welcome,

href="http://www.johnosnes.com/">John Osnes, Pianist (New York, New York) to the EdgeWiseBlog collective (though his site is not a

blog). mjh