Random 12_22_2012

We were getting too many roosters, so some had to be sold. My wife told my son to take pictures, and I was pleased at what good shots he got; but my first impression made me laugh. So, for those normal folks who are weird challenged, I've enhanced the pictures to bring out what I saw.

_______________________________________________

Google Sites Rocks....

As brief as possible:
 My in laws aren't tech savvy, and their
employment situation needs a boost. My web sites help me, so I decided
to make one for them. I started with a small host-server company, and a
big name, complicated CMS. The server crashed, and the tech support was
even worse. So I decided to try a huge host-server, and a (apparently)
simplified CMS. Enter Google sites.
 One of the things I do is give
away free vector clip art; it draws traffic, and lets me give something
back to cyberspace, seeing I get so much for free. Anyway, the big name
CMS wouldn't even let me put an SVG file in a directory via control
panel. Kept rejecting it. None of the image uploaders would handle that
file extension, and using code to embed it was more than I wanted to do.
As it turns out, the Google Sites crew dealt with it a couple years
ago, albeit with what I think is an ancient file extension; WMF. I
couldn't get the color fills to work in WMF, much less color gradients,
but at least I was able to offer the clip art as a black outline, and
that right on the page.
  I've been wanting to find a way to offer
the color SVG as well, but not "parked" at another site. That would be
easy enough, I have an older primitive HTML site that lets me put SVG
files in the directories. Then I link to them from other sites. The
problem is that I want all the links and traffic to stay at the first
site. So earlier I was searching around at this form site, and found
information about attaching a file to a Sites page. I had seen the
attach icon lots of times, but gave it little attention. I figured it
wouldn't handle the SVG extension. Not only was I wrong, but I can do it
while editing the page, no need to use FTP software and all that. I'm
very pleased with this arrangement.
  Thank You Google Sites!
Typical Free Clip Art

__________________________________________________

After writing a post as graphic and foreboding as the one about guns, I get a mild case of writer's remorse. I wish things weren't that bad, I wish I could deny what I see, but somebody has to say it. I hope it provokes thought about those things, and, maybe less defending the party line for fear of reinforcing the opposition.

I've been wanting to say a few things about this blog. My name is Jim, I'm a sign maker that has reverted back to archaic methods to ply the trade, because the business practices I encounter with the newer technologies are in a word abusive. I moved to a rural part of Tennessee USA from the state of California. I left as part of a plan that would eventually take me away from this country entirely.  My version of conservative Christianity overlaps the local traditions in limited ways. So I started a blog to let the local people know what my religious and political ideas are, hoping that even if they didn't agree, they might at least understand the reasoning behind our positions and practices; and that I was reasonable. For whatever reason, web stats say that this blog is the most visited part of the website. It might be that the stats software somehow calculates the number of blog visitors based on the number of blog postings that are showing, compared to the way the rest of the site is made; giving a higher number that what really is. whatever the case is, I appreciate your visiting.

I've tried to be very honest with myself for years, but in spite of that, it's amazing or sad how easily a little selective presentation of facts can lead to out right lying. Also interesting is how alienating the honesty pursuit can be. Sometimes I think about that word pedantic, too. Nonetheless, the benefits far outweigh the annoyances; I would have a hard time living with myself if I resorted to the party line or the religious tradition. Thank you for reading my blog, comments are welcome, I hope the buttons work. The reason I make all comments be verified is because I've had some really filthy spam in the comments section, and I won't let that sit for any hours or days.