Category: Blogging

Down For A Few Days?

My laptop apparently took a bump or spill that managed to damage/break the screen. I got it working (sorta, apologies for typos/issues) long enough to get this up. Can’t get it fixed until Wed as I don’t get my stipend until then. Anyone cares to hit the tip jar, much appreciated as estimate is $300 to repair.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Flood Delay

Had planned to do a different post today, following up on some previous promises. However, at around 0500 I discovered that the basement where I live had flooded. Worse, the bathroom I really needed to reach was on the other side of the flood (floor slopes down to the center from each end of the house).

Thankfully, I found my waterproof safety boots and made it across. Then, went and got the landlord up. We had a good storm last night (I slept through it) and the emergency pump either didn’t work (my bet) or couldn’t keep up. Going to try to get the landlord to check the pump, will see what happens.

As of right now, the basement is pumped out courtesy of the landlord and a shop vac. Took him a little bit to get it done. I just mopped with an insane amount of bleach in the bucket just in case it wasn’t all storm water. Also, just took my censer out into that area to deal with some of the odor and a few other things (bless this house).

Despite all, did get the bread baked and the muffins cooked too. Have cleaned that up, and am now contemplating doing as little as possible until time for choir practice. I may get back to the planned post, but no promises.

Be good, be safe, and be prepared.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Dealing With Dying

No, everything is okay here, but it is an important topic. I’ve been blessed to have had access to an amazing Hospice organization for both my parents. Having their help and support made a very difficult time much easier, including on levels I didn’t fully appreciate at the time.

There is a new blog/substack out from a Hospice nurse called Life During Death. Please allow me to commend it, and the discussions therein to you. There is already a lot of hard-learned and much needed food for thought there. Yes, the topic is one that can make many shudder or want to turn away, but it is important. Don’t turn away, and use it to have some conversations that are needed with family and friends. Much better that way.

Mea Culpa

This weekend, I made a mistake on Twitter and want to not only own up to it, but examine how it happened and try to make up for it a small bit. It involved the now infamous viral video of an HOA Karen (biological male, HOA president living up to your expectations/stereotypes) who may or may not have been drinking, was a complete douche, and who snapped a teenager’s fishing pole (expensive) over its knee.

The abuse of authority, especially against minors, is one of those things that sets me off. I dug into the story, especially as it involved Knoxville, TN — as I used to live there and have a few fond memories of the town and a certain academic institution located there. Others had done the same, and Karen was quickly identified as one Matt Webster, who is a member of a Church and takes part in a Haiti relief operation that is affiliated with the Church. There were photos of him, and they matched the video.

Someone else identified him as working for United Community Bank in Knoxville. Now, this was from a different source and while they seemed to have some credibility with the party who had done the initial detective work, I did try to check their work before accepting it. Couple of problems came up.

First, UCBI had scrubbed the personal page, which is not a good sign of innocence. Worse yet, it appeared one or more notes had been posted on it before being wiped, one of which appeared to be to the effect that what people did in off hours was not the business of the bank. Again, seeing that something had been posted that appeared to indicate it was the person then was part of the wipe was not a good sign. If you are doing coms, keep in mind that such ghost pages can and do show up for a bit even after you wipe them.

Second, I had limited my search in regards this Matt Webster to Knoxville, trying to eliminate false returns. Net result, I missed an article in a Nashville journal that had a photo that clearly did not match the video and other photos of Karen Webster. Had I seen it, I would have known the info was not correct. In the absence of such, and in the absence of a photo on the corporate website (which deleted page apparently had a photo that could have prevented much grief), I decided to go with the information.

Net result, I screwed up. I have deleted the tweet and posted both a mea culpa and an apology. I want to do so here as well. I also would like to offer a couple of suggestions to the “good” Matt Webster and UCBI.

Crisis communications is not easy, even with prior planning. Management seldom wants to invest time or money in such, though they should. Having done a bit of it over the decades, here are a couple of suggestions for UCBI.

First, always plan for a crisis and the way to bet is that such will come up on a holiday or during a time key people are not available. Seems to be some variant of Murphy’s Law. In a case like this, a good response is to remove all contact info while putting up a banner to the effect that this is not the person in the video, acknowledge that the video is disturbing, and that the bank shares the concerns of the public even though it is not involved. From experience, legal may object to such, but I will note that if you go with what legal recommends and only what legal recommends, you will get corn cobbed every time. It’s a balancing act but such a banner gets across: it’s not your person, your bank is not involved, people have the wrong person, and, you share the disgust at what happened. Not perfect, some will ignore, but it gets the basic information out and sets the stage to do more later at need. Internally, you change the coms for the person involved, shield them as much as possible, and work to help them weather the storm. There are arguments for and against doing a generic reply to emails, but my own take is that a generic reply emphasizing wrong person, wrong institution, not involved, and shares community concerns over the video helps reinforce other messaging Ignore the most vitriolic, but forward them to security for safekeeping against future need or turning them over to law enforcement as needed.

For Matt Webster, I recommend using humor (though you might not be feeling it right now) and flipping things on a tangent to your (and UCBI’s) advantage. First thing, reach out to the kids in the video and their parents. Not to complain, but to check on them, how they are doing, ask if the pole has been replaced and if there is anything you can do. Not all Matt Webster’s are like Karen Webster and while you share the same name you are thankful you are not that person. Keep it light, focus on them, and consider offering expertise and help with what is going on, that while monetization of content and such is not your area, glad to provide introductions to those who are, etc. Focus on them. Do not publicize that you have reached out, leave that up to them. You should note it made your weekend most interesting, and can only imagine what it has been like for them.

Once that is done, consider a video of your own at UCBI. Again, keep it light as humor works well with American audiences. Do something short emphasizing you look nothing like Karen, clearly you are younger, more handsome, and a professional. Maybe say something about internet supersleuths getting it wrong (with an eye roll or such) and noting that while HOA rules are not your thing, X, Y, and Z are and you look forward to providing that knowledge and service to the members of the community. Recommend not mentioning Karen by full name, rather, something like “that other fellow” instead. Again, this approach works well with American audiences, and can be a good start to a larger professional campaign.

As for me, I am sorry for the mistake, and apologize for spreading the false information. I hope this helps explain how it happened, and provides some suggestions that may help deal with the situation.

Back Monday?

Doubt I will be posting much as I leave tomorrow morning for a retreat at a Greek Orthodox monastery out-of-state. The men’s group of the Church I’ve been attending (which is not Greek Orthodox) is going up to spend the weekend there. I am looking forward to it as the last real monastery visit I did was many years (sigh, cough, decades) ago when the Methodist youth group of which I was a member went up to the Roman Catholic monastery in Conyers, GA for the day. Yes, for you science fiction fans, that monastery. Go Team Conyers!

Thanks to a wonderful person, I now have a new study Bible and will be taking it with me. For those into the details, the Old Testament portion is a new translation of the Septuagint (LXX). The New Testament is taken from the New King James version. In doing previous study to see how the long-term memory issues impacted things, there were and are gaps in what I do readily remember of scripture. I do find it interesting that Luke and the writings of the Apostle Luke appear to have stuck with me better than most. The Old Testament took a far heavier (near total) hit on the memory loss than the New. In doing Psalm readings for Lent, I’ve gotten little flashes of “I’ve read this before” but no major memory cascades. Remember folks, pay attention to the lightning safety briefs as getting hit is not fun.

Between the new Bible, which features a lot of history and non-scripture commentary from the Fathers of the Church and others, and the Bible study at Church, looking forward to re-learning and exploring anew. Also, the class I’m taking at Church has proven interesting, as we have gotten into some of the Greek and translation issues. As noted before, we keep diving down all sorts of interesting rabbit holes in our discussions, while our instructor tries hard to keep us on track and schedule. Not sure we have ever finished on time or covered everything on the schedule for that day. 🙂

To those hitting the tip jar in the upper right, thank you! You and your help are much appreciated. There are a few more things I would like to get, including some items that will be the basis of the new series of preparedness posts. Hope to look not just at the what, but the how as well. Maybe even some hardware evaluations as well as general product evaluations.

As for current events, stay vigilant and be prepared. On the Moscow terror attack, there are still a number of questions about who truly was behind it; however, the real issue is what actions Vladimir takes on the basis of who he blames it on (regardless of who actually did it). Remind me to do a post on why he can’t do much, based in part on the article I linked to the other day about how fast they are running out of critical items. On the FSK Bridge, John Konrad has been on a tear with good commentary and links to lots of good and interesting sources. Between him, Sal, and Sal, you are in good hands for those discussions. Remember what was said about preventable and what we would find? Yeah, maintenance seems to have been an issue with the ship and other protective measures that could have been in place got torpedoed by politicians of various stripes. Quelle Surprise.

If anything major happens, hit the links in the upper right as I will not be taking much in the way of technology with me. Figure most things can wait until I get back. Be safe, be alert, and be prepared. Keep your things where you can find them in the dark. More soon I hope.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Help The King

A long time ago, in a blogosphere that now seems far, far away, there arose a man who took up the helm of the Last King of France at Curmudgeonly & Skeptical. A knack for photos and memes, a wry sense of humor, and a love of life made him a daily read for myself and many others. It was partly an ongoing joke that I have him (still) listed as my single NSFW entry.

Time has marched on, and between the loss of his beloved wife and his own health issues, he hasn’t posted much in a while. This weekend, Linda SOG wrote let me know that he has entered care and while his health is okay overall, his spirits are a bit down. So, she has put out the call for anyone who remembers Rodger and his blog with fondness to send him a card. While this is not a ‘get well soon’ time, it is a good time to share memories of the blog, laughs, and otherwise help bring a smile.

If you do so, be sure to use your screen name as our real names are rarely how we are known. To send him a card, drop a line to LindaSoG at gmail dot com and she will get you his address. I plan to do so as while my memory is fuzzy these days, I do remember the laughs and some interesting discussions in his comments.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Elon and Twitter

Yes, I’ve got some thoughts, but my last few headlines have been about thoughts so wanted to do something different. Fact is, I was on a panel with Elon about space commercialization years ago. It was not a pleasant experience because of Elon.

Elon is intelligent, how much so a subject of some debate and discussion. What I will say about him is that he seems get engineering and R&D on a level that few others do. Is he Kelly Johnson reborn? No, different type of genius and one who is smart enough to hire modern Kelly Johnsons and — mostly — listen to them on critical issues. I’ve heard over the years, however, that he can have a tendency to get so wrapped up in his concepts/plans that he doesn’t listen, not unless reality hits him hard with a cold douche.

Whether it’s because he’s spectrum or something else, he is not a people person. He doesn’t always get others, or seem to realize that disagreement does not automatically equate to enemy action. Or that less than 1,000 percent enthusiasm for project doesn’t mean you are against it. I think I said a while back that Elon was his own worst enemy when it comes to turning those who could or should be his allies into enemies. For some reason, he seems driven to do that, to be an ahole for no good or discernible reason.

That panel was a case in point. I was the NASA rep, working with the Space Product Development program, and simply because I (a mere contractor) was representing NASA, I was the enemy. That he saw NASA as the enemy at the time was not unfounded in many respects; but, the way he handled it set commercialization efforts back. Frankly, he was a rude, boorish, and nasty POS that night. Some of his comments apparently didn’t go over well in parts of NASA. As for me, what I witnessed along with things heard over the years (water cooler RUMINT), I would not want to work for him though I would love to work at a couple of his companies.

Fact is, before I got hit by lightning, I would have loved to work for Space X because they are doing, not talking. So long as it was down a few layers from the top so I was insulated from the storms that seem to hit Elon from time to time. He’s got a lot of good people working for him, and I would have loved to work with them. I think that right now they are the best shot we have at getting off this mudball and creating a permanent human presence throughout the solar system. I think that important and needed, especially as we seem determined to go the path of endless wars and escalation of same. Earth is the cradle of humanity, and it would be a shame if we became a case of crib death writ large.

I bring this up because over the weekend, Elon had one of his patented tantrums on Twitter (X, whatever) over removing the block feature. Elon wants to do it, and the peasants just don’t understand his grand plan and how this will make things better. He started blocking people who disagreed with the idea, told major accounts to delete themselves because they disagreed, and thought it was all funny. I thought it was fun (and funny) to block him so I may not be on Twitter much longer. We’ll see. The interesting thing is that with X/Twitter, the world gets to see the behavior on a large scale.

As for the block feature, I think it flat out stupid to remove it. First, various app stores (on which X depends) have rules that would seem to say no to this. Second, there are serious safety concerns for people who block because of domestic, terroristic, and other threats. I actually did try to point out the latter to Elon and others at X, don’t think it went anywhere. To my mind, it’s a liability issue with a capital L and a lot of dollar signs attached. Third, it’s my timeline and I like having the ability to block bots and others who do not have my best interest at heart.

I made the decision a while back to hang on and see what happens on/with Twitter/X. I don’t like a lot of what I see going on lately, but then again I’m not a multi-business billionaire with a track record of (mostly) success. I’m not part of the flounce brigade that every time he’s made a change has flounced to other pastures in protest (and mostly come immediately back). I’m going to let things play out for now, as Twitter is still the best platform for getting breaking news and intel.

I would love to see it more a true free speech platform, at least within what is allowed by our government, the EU, and others who hate free speech. I would like to have no filters, or at least visible filters and options, and curate who I follow, how, and why. Elon seems to want to make it a garden of nice, or at least nice as he sees it. Having survived the destruction of the blogosphere when we were tempted into the warm walled gardens of Facebook and other social media, which rapidly turned into thought prisons, I don’t trust promises of gardens that, really, trust us, this time are going to be nice and free.

Meantime, understand Elon is not your friend, a savior, or anything else other than a flawed human like the rest of us. He is an erratic genius, where it’s not the genius that is erratic but his behavior. I want to be fair and note that I have heard that he is not having a tantrum/being an ahole, he’s actually nice and even fun to be around. I’ve just never personally seen that side of him.

Because of him, a lot of good things are happening. To my mind, it’s worth dealing with the ahole component to get the good things. Not necessarily pleasant, but until some real competition comes along, he’s pretty much the only game in town on several fronts. When there are other realistic options, I will review and revise as warranted. If he goes completely off the rails in regards Twitter/X, I will leave with little fuss or muss. Meantime, I’m just going to sit back, watch, and probably shake my head a lot.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Belated 20th Anniversary

This post over on Twitter kicked off a small memory cascade and reminded me of something I meant to do back on the 13th. I wrote a note to do it, but apparently put it in a good safe place…

My memory is fuzzier than I would like, but I had been doing guest posts at various blogs for a while, including at the missed Winds of Change blog. Joe Katzman, who is mostly offline these days, was kind enough to post my stuff there. He also teamed up with John Ringo (with some assistance from David Weber and his better half Sharon) to encourage me to start my own blog. You can blame them for the fact that on April 13, 2003 (according to the Wayback Machine) LaughingWolf.net came online.

Despite several hacks of hosting providers and other fun delights, and with the technical help of the now radio silent Zonker, it’s been in continual operations ever since. There were some periods of lite posting, some of heavy, but it’s been here.

Those early days were fun and I do miss elements of it. Seriously, can you imagine teasing Instapundit about having a fondness for puppy smoothies and roasted hobo in today’s environment? Reminds me, I do need to find that 465 HP blender of his and get it back to him… There was a lot of good natured banter. There was drama too, including some needless drama. Fact is, I don’t miss some who took their footballs and left. I do miss some of the others, who have either quit blogging or are no longer with us. The latter is a growing list and there are days where I do miss everyone from Acidman and MommaBear to Jonn and Lex.

I started pseudo-anonymous as there were employment issues to consider, though I think today is far worse than then. When I was accidentally outed, I could and did run with it, which would be far harder to do today. The troll I attracted at NASA that eventually ended up with formal complaints and legal involvement was but a pale taste of what can and does happen today. Lost a job over the blog and politics, but worth it. Even the trolls and death threats have been worth it. I’ve had it a lot easier than others, but will share that one should never try to out crazy Stacy McCain.

Let’s get real. The early days were exciting, interesting, and a lot more. Thanks to some local get-togethers, BlogWorld and the Milblog events, I got to meet a lot of neat and interesting people, both bloggers and readers. Getting to spend time with some of the Georgia bloggers, Vodka Pundit, John of Argghhh, Greyhawk, Baldilocks, Froggy, Subsunk and his wife, and a host of others made up for having to deal with name-dropper Matt and Uncle Jimbo. Smile.

I got to know Matt online in those early days when I offered to stand second for him in a duel. Seriously. No duel, but when the douchebag in question apparently came to a meeting and saw Matt there, he turned around and left. There was indeed a bit of the Wild West to blogging in those days.

When Matt began working on his book, he asked several of us to post at Blackfive. He laughed his ass off later when I told an audience that since the book was a success, he hadn’t sobered up since and didn’t realize I was still writing there. Fact is, writing at Blackfive was a privilege and an honor. A greater honor was getting to work to help the wounded. Never thought any of the things I learned about BI/TBI would ever apply to me. Two embeds and the worst injury was a split shin. I will note, however, that you should never trust MaryAnn Phillips if she tells you there are just a few boxes of supplies for the wounded that need moving. I still laugh and take a small bit of pride in how much we got done that day. Good memory.

Blogging has been mostly good memories. Wish I had handled a couple of things differently. Wishing I had made better word choices, always. One of the few regrets I have is letting Matt and Jonn talk me out of a rather blunt tell-all post on what happened to the Afghanistan embed. Wish I had held out for a less blunt but honest piece, especially as the prime soup sandwich was already on his way out of the Army (who decided they no longer needed his services). As it is, without solid info, too many rumors ran wild.

There have been a lot of changes to the blogging world over the last twenty years. Far too many of us fell for the illusion of social media, and I’m glad I kept the blog going despite such. I also want to thank all of you who helped me change hosting providers and do other work to make this a bit more stable platform. It’s nice not to completely break when you get an Instalanche. Huge thanks to Sarah A. Hoyt and Stephen Green at Instapundit, along with Ed Morrissey and the team at Hot Air on helping with that. In fact, it was Sarah who talked me into starting the fundraiser, and her support and encouragement have been very important.

Because, yeah, the last decade has been interesting with everything from a botched colonoscopy that came close to getting me to a false diagnosis of cancer (unrelated events). There is advanced severe osteoarthritis and other issues. Then, coming up on two years ago now, I got hit by lightning. Trying to do a lot better job of listening to figure out what the Lord wants me to be doing and where. I know where I think I want to move, but not sure it’s where I need to move. Again, listening.

Meantime, I may be slower but I’m still moving. Never was a high speed low drag type, more a low speed high drag model. Thing is, never quit moving. Never quit trying. You may not get it perfect, but you are still doing and still in the game. That’s what counts.

Writing takes a lot more time and effort than it used to. Between short term and long term memory issues, well, fun is a word that can be used to describe it. But, as long as you keep reading I will do what I can to keep writing. I will do what I can to write solid stuff, and even some fun stuff.

As for what the future holds, I think blogging may make a comeback. That said, I also expect to see governments around the world, including our own, do their best to silence the blogs. I expect to see a lot more de-platforming with hosting providers (and why I am likely to stay with my current host as while their support sucks hairy warty ones, they have been resistant to such efforts). I expect in return we may see a bit of creativity on the part of hosts and others. Oh, and if you think that horrid new law Chuckie and company are pushing targets VPNs and those who use them by mistake, think again. Let your congresscritter know not to vote for that anti-freedom cesspit.

Even if Elon succeeds with what he’s trying to do at Twitter, I plan to keep the blog going one way or another. We tried putting our eggs in one basket one time before. Didn’t work out so well, did it? So, let’s not do that again.

Thank you. Thank you for reading me. Thank you for all the good comments. Thank you for the encouragement and support. You are the reason I and this blog are still here. Thank you.

God Bless.

NOTE: Writing this has sparked more than one memory cascade. Good things. But, there was a reader at Blackfive I talked to a while back who was going through an interesting time. If you are still out there and chance across this, let me know at the addy above how things are going please. Hope they continued to improve. Also, I know I’ve left a lot of names out. No way to list everyone, not a slight. Doesn’t help that I’m pretty sure I don’t remember everyone…

Quick Thoughts On Sources

I probably need to flesh this out more, but after yesterday I want to get something up on sources I read/follow regularly.

First, I check my intel list on Twitter. Perfect, no; but, the sources in it tend to be good in their specific areas. I add and remove as needed, and am always looking for other good sources around the world. Suggestions welcome.

I do often pay close attention to the Institute for the Study of War. For news and analysis StrategyPage is a good read. When it comes to understanding the thought, philosophy, mores, and history behind Russia and its dealings with the world, read the works of Kamil Galeev. There are a few more, but this is a good start.

For analysis, commentary, and discussion, I do follow Stephen Green at Instapundit and Vodka Pundit as much as I can. Instapundit is a good read under any circumstances with excellent commentary and more by Glenn, Sarah, and others. I also follow the authors at Hot Air, as they too are a good group overall and offer a variety of perspectives.

There are others, of course, such as Commander Salamander for naval and more. Also glad to see the DiploMad back. Wish more of the early milblogs and similar were still up, pay attention to those that are.

Most of my other regular and semi-regular reads tend to be about writing, general politics, science, and such.

More soon.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving to the SW, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.