Healthy Fellow

A while back, I told you to get ready for a slew of posts about food. I was reading a couple of books, one a cookbook and the other a kind of history of food-type book, and there was a lot of information on herbs, dishes, drinks, and rituals associated with food that figured into a lot of the superstitions, myths, legends, and lore from around the world. It got me thinking about the whole idea and since we sometimes cover health-related items here as a matter of course, I thought it would make for good reading. Unfortunately, this was just a few weeks before it became certain that I was moving and things got hairy (as they have too often lately). We'll get to all of it one of these days - assuming we have the luxury.

I say that because I really am trying to live healthier. After this surgery, I may well feel like a kid again - I'll at least be able to lead a far more active life than I have these last 6-7 years... if I get in shape to actually take advantage of it. So I'm pleased to tell you I found a truly well-written, knowledgeable health blog I can recommend. Even better, Healthy Fellow focuses on natural foods and a food-based (holistic) approach to health - which is right up our alley!

So, one of these days, I'll post some of those ideas I had about food, folklore, and superstitions, etc., but it's not like I can give you any advice on living healthfully. Healthy Fellow can do that. I read it.

An Apoloj xxx Apology

Wow! Well, the scheduled posts thing worked... unfortunately, my brain did not!

I just spent the last hour reading through the posts from the last two days and every, last, one of them had at least one typo or grammatical error! I don't even know how that happened, but it most certainly did and I apologize.

Silly typos and stupid grammatical mistakes like those are so unprofessional, and I take great pride in having so few of them (usually). I literally stop reading blogs in mid-sentence if I come across so much as one. I know that's awful; it's elitist and rude, and anyone can make mistakes. But, if you've waded through as many ESL splogs as I have, you too would develop an intolerance of petty errors!

I can just imagine what any new visitors thought... geez.

Anyway, it was so bad that I had to take a moment to admit it, so y'all knew I saw them (eventually) and fixed them. Apparently, my little spell-chdk add-on is broken and I'll have to fix that.

Anyway, I guess I got put in my place. By myself. [I may have had some unsolicited "help." - ed.]

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Seeking All Paranormal Blogs and Bloggers

The OddBlog has been around -- in one form or another -- for going on four years now.  In that time, I have come across a few good paranormal blogs and sites, but they were either abandoned or simply disappeared.

In fact, just the other day, I pulled out one of my many compendiums and started visiting URLs listed in the bibliography.  While the book in question is nearly 10 years old now, I expected at least a handful to still be around, even if no longer maintained.  I am about halfway through the list of nearly 100 sites and none -- not one -- is still online!

I found a pretty good one when I first started The OddBlog and had it on the blogroll, but it was never updated in all the time I checked it, so I eventually removed it and have since forgotten the URL.  I know I can search -- and I will -- but I wanted to post this in case anyone knows of any other paranormal blogs and sites out there, or maybe even run one yourself.

I am looking for quality blogs and sites -- good ones that approach the matter from a common-sense standpoint, regardless of whether the webmaster/blogger considers him or her -self a "believer" or "skeptic."  I do not care for the cheeseball, "orbs and alien masks in windows" sites, and I certainly don't care for the flat-earthers.

So I was hoping some of you might be able to help me out with this one.  Thanks!

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

BlogCharm Went Under - This is It

If you ever read the original OddBlog (it was called The Weirding, then), you visited a hivesite called BlogCharm. As I wrote before, one of the reasons I moved the blog here is because BlogCharm ripped me off.

Well, I am happy to report that BlogCharm no longer exists!

This is not really "odd" news, as I am sure if they ripped me off, they must have done as much to others. I just wanted to note it because we still appear in some of the search engines as being on BlogCharm and we obviously are not. Plus, it's a bit o' OddBlog history - or OddBloggery, if you like.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

BANG!

I have to admit, when I first read about an Internet firm that takes a "holistic" approach, I was skeptical. However, after reading BANG's mission statement, purpose, and explanation of individuals comprising the team, I truly believe them to be a competent and valuable web2.0 user experience consulting firm.

If you are interested in getting involved in online business, but do not know much about the practices involved and are too busy to learn, then hiring a firm is definitely the way to go. I actually enjoy what I do and am always learning more and looking to improve, but I have to admit, it's an uphill battle! Things change every moment - I would say "everyday," but that would be too late - and one person (even a small firm of several people) face a Sisyphean feat to keep up with it all while still producing viable, quality content. Add to all of this the marketing and promotion involved and you start to understand why outsourcing could be the answer to your Internet business strategy.

Take a moment to check out their site, read their information, and truly consider BANG for your Internet consultation needs. I think that you will find them as honest and purpose-driven as do I.

in 2008, The OddBlog was a Blog

OddBlog 2018 Edition

Hey guys.  I know there have been more of these "agenda" posts than usual lately, but I said there would be because the whole site is undergoing redesign, and this is not exactly one of those-type posts.

What I wanted to do was mention something I talked about on Weird Ink Friday and feel quite strongly about.  I mentioned it over to The Rundown, as well, and I want to preface this by saying that I am not condescending to anyone, just laying it out as best I can:

The OddBlog is not a news service, news magazine, or news site; this is a blog.  Pure and simple, plain-Jane, no-holds-barred blog.

While many of the articles presented here are basically rewrites of news items I am interested in or think you would be, just as many are my opinion on news items or subjects and that's what you should expect. Like I said, the best blogs offer information, along with the blogger's opinion, assessment, or evaluation of that information.

But, like Weird Ink to writing, The OddBlog is meant to develop into a full-blown online resource for paranormal research.  It is a lofty pursuit and not necessarily one I am aggressively pursuing, but there it is. So there will be more journalistic articles and entries here than on the other blogs, but at the end of the day, The OddBlog is still -- quite firmly -- a blog, not a "media outlet," not a "news service."  

That we "report" more truth than these traditional news outlets is due to something called the NDAA -- which is the same provision that allows us to speculate freely without fear of legal repercussion or civil consequence (it's a Post-Truth World, motherfuckers, so suck it up - ed., 2018) -- and, also, their gross incompetence and total complicity as co-conspirators.

The reason I am making such a stink about this everywhere is because the media and others have so bastardized the concept that I am now constantly confronted with new "blogs" and "bloggers" who are either looking to make a quick buck (they won't), or think this is the way to leap-over traditional routes to becoming an actual reporter (it isn't).  I want to disabuse everyone of this notion.

Again, there are actual articles contained in the archives and there will be more in the future, but the overwhelming majority of what is to be found here -- and what you should expect -- are simple blog entries: What I think about this, what I am doing, what I am going to do, what I think this means, and so forth -- along with general rewrites of odd news items I think you'll find interesting or entertaining, or that are related to the subjects we cover here.

Again, this is just to clarify: The OddBlog is a blog, not a news source or magazine [2008 - ed.].  While you will find useful information herein, as well as news, and it is meant to be used as a resource and reference, this is not its primary function.

And I, as much as anyone, have lost sight of this lately, as well.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

UPDATE:  The OddBlog can now be considered one of the most trusted sites regarding these subjects currently available online.  The passage of the NDAA allowed malicious entities, particularly from the governmental sector (in addition to the rest), to label mere blogs, social network accounts, and basically the entire Internet "Fake News" and "Russian Propaganda" -- that is, literally, one of the goals of the NDAA.  This began as far back as 2008, before the NDAA had been passed, and this is when (and why) this post was written.  The OddBlog is about as far from "fake" as shit gets. - 2018

RSF Virtual Protests - March 12

Reporters Without Borders (RSF -- not the BLACK OPS investment firm) set up virtual versions of nine real places where protesting is usually outlawed, and invited people from all over the world to join in protesting Web censorship this past Thursday.

Virtual areas included China's Tiananmen Square, and Kim Il-Sung Square in North Korea. The RSF noted that at least 62 cyber-dissidents are in jail around the world, and over 2500 sites, blogs, and forums were closed or blocked last year alone.

[We can prove that, and much more. And, lest we omit, Obama was acting President at this time. - ed., 2018]

The demonstrations lasted 24 hours and attracted thousands. Users were encouraged to create avatars and banners, and participate in one of the virtual demonstrations in nine countries.

The event is set to take place annually on the 12^th of March.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Revived Interest

I have always been interested in the Unknown and Unexplained - that's why I put this blog together in the first place! And in its first incarnation (on a community blogsite), I updated it as frequently as I do The Rundown now. But once I moved it, I had so many issues with FTP, the design, and everything else, that it really became more of a hassle than it was worth.

I don't care how much you enjoy doing something, when it just doesn't work-out, no matter how hard you try, it sucks the fun right out of it! All the time and effort you spend on it feels like a guilty pleasure and it sets on your shoulders until you resent the whole thing. Add to this the fact that every time you look at the damned thing, it reminds you of your failure! You get the idea.

So I have not enjoyed blogging on The OddBlog in months - months! And I hated that, because I really love the Supernatural and paranormal, et. al., and I really enjoy reading about it, discussing it, theorizing on it, etc.

But now that we have the new template in-place and I don't have to wait 30 minutes to 2 days for a single post to publish, it's like a brand new blog! My joy has been rejuvenated!

I'd love to hear what everyone thinks about the new design and get some action going here, but seeing as how I haven't really bothered to get the word out about our fair OddBlog in months - months! - I know it's going to take some time. The good news is that the slump is definitely over; I will be here and I will be posting - a lot.

So kick back and enjoy and please let me know what you think if the mood strikes you!

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Geez!

Yeah, that... that didn't quite work, did it?

The sickest thing is that I knew I had to use a classic template for FTP, but I still wasted all this time... yes, I did all of this without thinking. Anyway, I am going to leave this as-is for a few more days because I am going to try some other things. I actually do not like this template as much as I did at first, largely because it just doesn't seem to work with the subject matter. And it isn't as customizable as I'd hoped.

Actually, while doing all of this, I found some information on how to create my own Blogger 2.0 templates, so I may give that a shot. However, I have to wait until tomorrow for my ISP to open up so I can find out if I have any other options.

The feed still isn't working...

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Busy Day!

Whoa! Now this is a chore!

I told you this was going to be a big deal and I knew it was, but I guess I wasn't quite prepared for just how big. This is why I've been putting this off.

I spent almost the entire day dealing with tags. I knew they were screwy, but DAMN! I apparently tagged every word in at least 50 posts... I have gotten it slightly more manageable but I'm only halfway finished. Once I get it trimmed-down, I'll return to the actual designing, and then I'll start tweaking the tags so that they make more sense and you can actually find stuff.

Anyway, hitting the bed for now.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Now You See

Now you see what I was talking about when I said this was a big undertaking.

Right now, you are being redirected from the original site here because I have to use this method to arrange the template, not to mention that it is much faster and easier this way. Hopefully, this will also fix the feed, but since it has been down for so long and it usually takes like 24-48 hours to resynch, we won't know until Monday or after. In fact, the whole thing may take longer than that - I am not sure.

This is not the new address for The OddBlog, however it may remain this way for another 30 days or so, until after everything has settled down and (hopefully) the feed is working; I will then move it back to its regular URL on the site. Besides, it is going to take some time for me to play around and decide on what I am keeping, what I am dropping, and what I want to play with.

Obviously, I need to get into the tags today, before I do much of anything else... I told you they were a mess! Of course, I have plenty of other things to get to as well, so I can do only so much at one time.

I hope you enjoy the new design and that the changes make it easier for me to work with. The easier it is to do, the more productive I am - meaning more content for you to enjoy!

I'd love to hear any and all comments!

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Feed Issues

Sorry for all the seemingly superfluous posts, but they are necessary for me to see what is working and what isn't. This will probably go on several times throughout the next few days, so if you are getting tired of jumping over to see what is "new," only to find it is just this crap, then you are probably safe waiting until Monday to check for new content.

However, the new template will be up sometime this weekend, so if you are that interested, you might want to check back like Sunday. All of this was typed only so I could see if the feed is working...

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Sweeping Changes

The time is upon us:

I have been discussing possible technical changes a lot lately and I have tried things here and there, but this weekend is The Big One: I am going to completely change the template, try once again to fix the feed, and get back to work on the tags.

The problem is that, every time I change a single post or the template, it takes up to five whole minutes for it to publish. That means that changing a tag on a single post, which takes maybe 10 seconds at most, can then take another five minutes to publish! When you think about it, I should be able to get through around 100 posts within an hour or two if all I needed to do was delete a few tags; instead, I am sometimes able to get to ten!

But after much plotting and planning (well, okay, not that much), I think I have devised a way to speed the entire process up by leaps and bounds. Regardless of how long it takes, I am sick and tired of putting it off and tired of looking at the damned thing! Every time I see the blog, it reminds me of failure and how much work I have to do, so nothing's going to change until I change it, and I have decided to do exactly that.

After all, I had been putting off the same work on both Weird Ink and The Rundown and when I finally broke down and did it, they both went through very smoothly and I am very pleased with what I accomplished on both, even though I am nowhere near done on either.

If you have problems loading the blog, this is why.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Post 666!

Avert your eyes! This is, indeed, post number 600 and 66.

Technically, since several posts are in draft form (they have been written, or mostly written, but not yet published), you cannot see all 666. However, I had to note this occasion due to the nature of this blog and the fact that it's just kinda cool.

The number 666 is often scorned by Christians due to the fact that it appears in the book of Revelation as "the number of the Beast." Many Christians will go out of their way to avoid association with the number - in fact, a Louisiana town recently had their phone number prefix changed because of it!

However, many scholars and theologians dispute the actual number, noting it might be a mistake of translation. Further, the actual significance of the digits are also disputed. Some think it may refer to Julius Caesar, who was in charge when the book was most likely first written. As Christians were persecuted, the number may have been used as a sort of "code" to avoid such tyranny.

So, avert your eyes and flee for the safety of your kitchen or bathroom, or maybe your hallway or bedroom. Or you can go into the garage or out on the porch, or maybe the sundeck, if you have one.

This has been the 666^th post.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Sick

Sorry for the absence, guys. I was feeling rundown and just plain bad all week long and kept chalking it up to a lack of sleep, not eating as well as I should, and so on, and then Friday, I just fell apart!

By Saturday morning, I was puking and coughing, feverish, achy all over - could barely hold my head up! So I tried to do a little here and there and finally just gave in and laid around all day and night.

After taking medicine and lounging all yesterday, I feel slightly better today - certainly more rested, if nothing else - so I will try to get back to work. I'm not promising anything because I'm still just getting up and about; it took an hour or two after I'd gotten up yesterday before it really hit me. But, knock wood, I feel a lot better today than I did when I woke up yesterday, so I'll get started and see how far I get.

©C Harris Lynn, 2008

Agenda

Hey guys, we'll be working today and the rest of the week.

There are so many holidays in these months that it can get difficult to stick to your regular schedule, especially if you are self-employed. But we are back to things as regular and we'll get plenty out to you.

After that, it's back to trying my best to get the RSS feed working, messing with tags, the template, and all other manner of technicalities which need attending to.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Weathering the Storm

Hey guys.

We were in the direct path of the storms yesterday/last night. Luckily, we did not receive the true brunt of the system - just a lot of wind and some rain and thundershowers - but it was enough to knock-out electricity and cable several times throughout the day, so we were unable to get to you.

We'll be unleashing several posts throughout the day and night today, though. Thanks for reading!

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Maintenance Time Again

Hey guys. Sorry to leave you on a sponsored post yesterday, but Blogger got to acting-up again once I submitted it; took about two hours to publish the damned thing and I didn't feel like fooling with it after that.

I also had some unexpected company drop by yesterday and spent the afternoon visiting. I have some posts to get out to you today that I wanted to post yesterday but didn't get to.

Then I am going to take the blog back offline again so I can do more maintenance. I still have not figured out how to fix the feed. The craziest thing is that both feeds (atom and FeedBurner) appear in the Status page as though they posted normally! I just don't get it. I would really love any advice anyone can offer.

I have not been promoting the blog because of these issues and until I get them cleared-up, I am not going to. It will likely take a few more weekends before I get to that point, so I apologize that there aren't more comments in general.

Anyway, hope everyone's having a good weekend and I'm going to publish these posts I have here, then get back to the technical work.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Sincerest Apologies

Guys, please allow me to sincerely apologize.

When I moved the blog to its own sub-domain a month or so back, I did not have the time to change the RSS feed and several other details and had planned to do them once I got home. That was before I had high-speed access and I could not get to these things through dial-up; it simply would not load.

Still, these things were not mentioned and with everything else going on, I did not notice them. I have looked at the blog off and on several times since then and tonight was the first night I noticed the tag cloud and figured out the RSS feed was screwed.

However, I did go in a few weeks back and fiddle with it on Technorati, so I am going to have to really sit down and figure out the problem later today/tomorrow (it's very early morning here and I should be sleeping); the issue lies somewhere between Technorati and Feedburner and I am going to have to really pull everything up and find it.

I am going to at least try to get the tag cloud spaced where you can read it, but wow! I had no idea it was that big! I'll definitely spend some time here working on things and hopefully you'll see the changes soon.

Again, terribly sorry, but this is why I wish more people would comment! I looked at this thing last night and was marveling at how clearly the little background dots show up on my new monitor, so something "clicked" or got misplaced very recently and I need to do some finagling.

The Dawn of a New Era?

Well, this is the very first post on the new connection. I really want to see how fast this is going to go through and whether or not I continue to have the same FTP issues. There is nothing of any real value in this post, I just wanted to let you know that - pending everything else in life gives me the slightest fricking break - this may very well be the start of something great!

After all, I can finally do research without it taking literally hours. The same is true for streaming video and audio and so forth. In fact, I finally got to see the Britney Spears performance at the VMAs!

I probably shouldn't have mentioned that, huh?

Anyway, I have a date tonight and hopefully it will go well enough that I won't be on here tomorrow - well, early, at the very least - but then things will definitely start picking up. After all, I started this blog because I love this kind of stuff and I have been jonesing to see some of the video and thigns I kept coming across but knew would take (literally) hours to download.