It was 20 26 years ago today that I arrived as a new resident of Albuquerque, of New Mexico, of the Southwest, Atzlan, the Four Corners and the Rockies. Praise be.

I sometimes think of this as my second life, although it may be my third or more. Strictly speaking, my first life was from birth to six in Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, Hawai’i. I have few accessible memories from those days (I look forward to old age dredging up more), but I can’t help but feel that living in a mellow multi-cultural paradise had to be a good start. Let’s call that my gestation.

In which case my first life took place in the area of Washington, DC — in and around Alexandria in Northern Virginia, to be more precise (accent on the northern, eliding the whole Virginia-thing — we considered ourselves in a separate state from Dixie).

Those 23 years were a great life with great friends. I can’t begin to do them justice here. And, unlike Death, moving to New Mexico didn’t end the things that matter. I hope it made my heart a little bigger that it might reach across the miles.

This life is … well, I don’t want to jinx it. I’m not really superstitions, but I am a devout Ironist. I know trouble is inevitable, I just don’t want to look back at this blog entry as the turning point. So, let me just say I’m grateful to the Universe for leading me here (and its agent, Merri Rudd).

I live in a state where people step outside when it rains; where we talk about that last rain and the next. Where people stop to watch the sunset, or a hawk or roadrunner. Where you can look at mountains 100 miles away or next door. A state where the calendar is set by the smell of roasting chiles, a thousand hot air balloons, a million luminarias/farolitos. Where the wind may drive you mad, but the weather changes hourly. Where people who have been here for 10,000 years were gracious to people who arrived here 500 years ago, who, in turn, were gracious to people who arrived here 150 years ago, 20 years ago, today. That generosity permeates everything. Thank you, New Mexico. May you walk in beauty forever. mjh

PS: It is also the 35th 41st anniversary of the first step on the moon. Ah-Ooo!

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If you like challenging content and clunky pre-Web 2.0 layout, I’ve got the perfect site for you. While the questionably formatted photographic elements may raise a few eyebrows, you can hear a real heart beating here. Dang intellectuals! Usability rating: 5/10.

I’m thrilled to be associated with “challenging content” and intellectuals. I’m glad my heartbeat has been heard. I’ll consider the source regarding “clunky” and “questionably formatted.” I’m not sure I can stomach being in the same context as Mario Burgos, however.

For the record, edgewiseblog.com is my blog collective, mostly occupied by me and Walking Raven. I salt this page with thumbnails of my photos, which I wish you would take the time to see at www.flickr.com/photos/mjhinton. I have other blogs, as well, including one on computer topics and another on wilderness and anything I associate with that. My pages on Chaco Canyon used to rank high in Google, though I’ve let them languish.

Take some time to look around. “Get to know me,” as Jon Lovitz so famously said. Thanks for visiting. peace, mjh

PS: Web 2.0 (Internet) The second generation of the World Wide Web, especially the movement away from static webpages to dynamic and shareable content and social networking. [Hmmm. My database-driven website with social-networking content (Flickr) may not be 3.0.]

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There is no question that the end of the Reign of Terror by Duhbya and BushCo has greatly reduced the bile I choked back for 8 years. Thank god. I hope Duhbya lives a long life and is forced to listen repeatedly to how badly he fucked up everything he attempted. I hope I live at least one day longer so that, following his peaceful and natural death, I can join the long line to piss, spit, or dance on his grave. See you in Hell, Duhbya.

As for Obama: Every day there is some bit of news that reminds me that, just as the wrong guy can do bad things constantly, the right guy can do good things at a similar pace. Obama is undoing and fixing what he can, all the while bending the reed more to the left.

And the Republicans: It is great to watch them shoot themselves and each other in the foot. I’m happy to see them drag their feet (and knuckles) as the rest of us try to move forward. Better — far, far better — is the infighting and bickering. I hope Meghan McCain kicks Ann Coulter’s ass. And I hope Lush Limbaugh remains king of the island of the damned.

Politics hasn’t been the only topic I’ve blogged about, so the end of our national nightmare can’t be the only explanation for my shift in focus.

Indeed, finishing my second book in 6 months might have given me more time for blogging, but I loved the return to no obligatory writing and to lazing about. Curiously, the habit of writing daily did not carry forward once the final deadline passed late in January. (I turned down Windows 7 for Seniors, which I dearly wanted to write but which started with a brutal deadline. By the way, I mostly like Windows 7, which is an improvement on Vista — which I also like — but a less dramatic change than from XP to Vista.)

Last but certainly not least: I let my friends infect me with the Facebook virus. There is much that I do not like about Facebook. There are many interface problems, not the least of which is denying one the ability to edit much of the text one enters. And all the different ways of looking at FB that make it seem fragmented and disorganized. And updates that appear and disappear in different places and at different times.

And yet, Facebook has become like email, in that I look at it repeatedly throughout the day, happy to see any update, saddened when there is nothing. I like knowing about the day-to-day lives of my friends. Social Networking is a Skinner box. I press the bar repeatedly and gobble up the random bits I receive. Believe me: Facebook does not deserve the time and attention it gets. Still, two out of three people who used to read this blog now are FB addicts, too, so, it is you, dear reader, the one who has remained free, who I wanted to speak to. I’ll be back when I can and I hope you’ll visit now and then. Thanks.

peace,
mjh

PS: I still spread myself around:
www.mjhinton.com/help/ is my computer blog
www.mjhinton.com/wild/ is my wilderness blog
www.flickr.com/photos/mjhinton/ is my photo blog

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mjh’s Weblog Entry – 11/24/2002: "hello, world!

After Greymatter, I switched to MoveableType and, then, settled with WordPress.

I think I posted my first web pages in 1993, although I don’t believe I have a copy of those. The wonderful Internet Archive Wayback Machine has my AOL pages starting in 1998. Good thing, too, since AOL just discontinued that service and I can’t find other backups.

My public writing goes back at least as far as the letter I wrote my high school newspaper protesting the showing of the Three Stooges at lunch time in the auditorium. I objected to their adolescent violence. The editor added this headline: Lovers of Decency Unite! That was probably 1971.

peace,
mjh

PS: Coincidentally — if you believe in coincidence – today, the 2nd quarter of my third book, Digital Photography For Seniors For Dummies, is due to Wiley and this is the first day my second book is available on Amazon: Digital Photography For Dummies. There is no doubt that blogging has helped me as a writer — and has put me in touch with readers. (Although, I am supposed to be working on my book as I write this.)

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I found the main entry and the secondary entry that probably created the match when the two entries were merged in an archive that may no longer exist, except in Google’s memory. I re-read both of these entries (the second is a series of four to five entries) and I enjoyed them again. Perhaps, you will, too.

http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/mine/you-are-what-you-eat/
http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/mine/left-undone/

peace,
mjh

PS: Testing that Google link above turned up another of my pages for the first time. No, not this one, which should appear in search results eventually. Instead, this page was listed — and it’s still out there. The Web is the trash heap future archaeologists and comedians will mine.

PPS: CKO points out that 12 hours later, Google lists *this* entry in that search — that’s fast. See Behind the Scenes of a Google Query, By Brian Ussery, to see just how fast Google is (responding to a search, not indexing, which was quite fast).

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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.

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Before Pat Robertson slips completely from our short attention spans and the 24 hour news cycle, let’s take a moment to remember not only what an ass he is but what kind of Christian he must be to call for killing and then lie about that and, in classic right-wing fashion, blame the media for misrepresenting him. Pious scoundrels like Robertson, and a long list of cohorts, will not only bring about the downfall of the Republican Party, but possibly Christianity itself and god help America in the process. mjh

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This is how the Web works for me. I was reading Chris’s blog and saw his favorable comments about Seth’s blog, so I went there. Somewhere on Seth’s blog, he made a parenthetical remark about the word “blurb.” I really like the word “blurb” — it sounds funny, it serves a useful purpose, and it looks recent. I can’t quite explain how that is possible; why “farm” sounds like it has been around longer than “fark.”

So, I googled “blurb” and ended up at Weird Words, where I learned rather succinctly about blurb’s creator, Gelett Burgess, whose other neologism were not quite as successful (though voip and VOIP may be puns now), as well as about blurb’s relationship to bromide, another pet of mine. (Taking an old word and applying it in a new way isn’t a neologism — so what is it?) I think Burgess deserves credit for creating the context that led “blurb” to its meaning, but I’m not sure he really coined the word as we use it (follow the link — decide for yourself). I wonder how one searches for the original Ms. Blurb.

All of which proves that Takin’ Care Of Business is as much my theme song today as it was 30 years ago.

Thanks, Tim Berners-Lee, for the World Wide Web, our hive mind, where ADD is an asset and serendipity endlessly enriches our lives. mjh

Look at me I’m self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day

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We interrupt this discussion of Karl Rove’s email to bring you an important reminder: there were no WMDs and the world is considerably more violent than it was two years ago. Now, back to what did Rove
know and when did he know it. mjh

Google Search: Karl-Rove

FOXNews.com – Politics – Can Bush Survive Without Rove?

President Bush said last year that if someone in his administration leaked the name of a CIA agent, that person would no longer be in his administration.

I’m really surprised at this common misquoting of Bush. More often, it is said that Bush said he would fire the culprit. Not so. I’ve seen the tape many times and Bush literally says such a person would be “taken care of.” How is that clearly “fired”? It could just as easily mean promoted or executed. Why do we all accept this constant interpreting of Bush as a non-native speaker (here’s what he meant, not what he said)? mjh

Rove e-mailed adviser about talk with reporter BY JOHN SOLOMON

“When he finished his brief heads-up he immediately launched into Niger. Isn’t this damaging? Hasn’t the president been hurt? I didn’t take the bait, but I said if I were him I wouldn’t get Time far out in front on this.’‘ …

He later told a grand jury the e-mail was consistent with his recollection that his intention in talking with Cooper that Friday in July 2003 wasn’t to divulge Plame’s identity but to caution Cooper against certain allegations Plame’s husband was making, according to legal professionals familiar with Rove’s testimony.

Rove sent the e-mail shortly before leaving the White House early for a family vacation that weekend, already aware that another journalist he had talked with, Chicago Sun-Times syndicated columnist Robert Novak, was planning a column about Plame and Wilson. …

The AP reported Thursday that Rove acknowledged to the grand jury that he talked about Plame with Cooper and Novak before they published their stories but that he originally learned about the operative’s identity from the news media, not government sources.

Republicans cheered the latest revelations Friday, saying they showed Rove wasn’t trying to hurt Plame but instead was trying to informally warn reporters to be cautious about some of Wilson’s claims. Democrats, however, said that even if Rove wasn’t the leaker, someone still divulged Plame’s identity.

AP

My reading of the text above is that Rove wanted to delay Cooper so Novak, a friend of the administration, would get the scoop. Or, that Rove was trying to discourage a reporter from Wilson’s claims (ie, let’s keep this quiet). mjh

Tennessee Independent Media Center: feature/6261
Karl Rove’s Defense is No Defense
by H.C. Kennedy

Novak’s initial column identified Plame as “an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction.” He has since claimed that he believed Plame was merely an analyst at the CIA, not a covert operative — the difference being that analysts are not undercover, so identifying them is not a crime. Critics contend that after decades as a Washington reporter Novak was well aware of the difference and would be unlikely to make such a mistake. Indeed, a search of the Nexis database for the terms ‘CIA operative’ and ‘agency operative’ shows Novak correctly used them to describe covert CIA employees every single time they appear in his articles. Including the Plame article.

Unconfirmed Sources

After all, Mr. Rove was not trying to destabilize the United States; at least not more than he’s already done. He was only engaging in petty revenge against his political enemies. That’s not a crime, that’s just your run of the mill Republican politics. Ms. Plame’s outing was more of a governmental friendly fire thing than out and out criminality.

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New research suggests that gene variants, which are known to raise the risk of asthma, decrease the risk of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a common type of brain cancer that is rapidly fatal.

We should all be very aware that we know little about subtlety and synergy in genetics. We are already dabbling in “gene therapy” and genetic modifications. What happens when we take something terrible out and that thing was actually a component of something wonderful? Worse, imagine we also take out the ability to perceive the change. Oh, it’s so wonderful that everyone is tall and beautiful and lives forever thanks to our glorious god-king! mjh

PS: Damn it, Mark, it’s hyperbole like that that makes everyone ignore the rantings of environmentalists! Can’t you just say it is cheaper to have asthma than brain cancer? That’s the kind of reasonable argument that wins public support.

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