I finally got around to adding a page.

I am talking about Day 20, of course.

Here is my new page.

The backstory is on this comments thread.

If you still haven’t done Day 22, may I humbly suggest that this counts as an event, even though we have not listed it?

(The fact that The Leather Library also added a page today is what makes it an event.)

Afternoon #Blog Roundup

The Zero to Hero assignment for day 23 was to publish a roundup.  Since I’d planned to feature a few Z2H bloggers here anyway, this post is my response to that assignment – a sort of “roundup of roundups.”

I discovered Never A Worry today by browsing the Zero to Hero tags. Noah has a roundup of interesting and well-written articles on the idiosyncrasies of English, the giving of gifts, and the importance of personal appearance. I especially recommend Ali’s “Violins, Cars, and Stereos.” I’ve been following Alienorajt for awhile now, and I enjoy her work.

Babbleogue, a blog devoted to Ana’s adventures in writing, alerted me to this challenge, and Ana has a roundup of her own.

Here’s  one more, not a Zero to Hero post, but a blog I discovered today while scouring the surveillance tag for blogs to feature in a different roundup. I didn’t find enough good ones to do a separate post, so I’m including it here. Not in Our Name is well-designed and focuses on government corruption and human rights issues. Chris reports today that the European Court of Human Rights has fast-tracked an important mass surveillance case.

WC Don’s, R.E.M., and Big Arm Dancing

– This is a very nice memoir of the 90s music scene. It’s funny, I don’t claim the 80s, either. Since I am just a few years younger, I claim the 90s. When my friends and I first discovered REM, they were referred to as a “college band.” If you’re interested in the development of popular music, late 80s to mid-90s Atlanta is sure to fascinate.

My Wild Surmise

 

In the days of my youth I was told what it means…oh, sorry.  I got sidetracked a little there.  In the days of my youth, Lynyrdskynyrdville had one of the greatest dive bars ever to sling a beer and hire a band. It was so cool that Rolling Stone named it one of the top ten dive bars in the United States.  That’s right.  Little ole Lynyrdskynyrdville had one of the top ten dive bars for a while there back in the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties.  It was called WC Don’s, as in “We Couldn’t Decide On A Name”, but we just called it Don’s.  It was an alternative music mecca, benefitting greatly from its reasonable proximity to Athens, Georgia – in other words, Don’s was a major stopover on the southeast dive bar circuit for Athens-based bands.  R.E.M. was among the plethora of bands that performed there in their early…

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Should we blog about this?

I just learned that a large number of advocacy groups and tech organizations are planning a day of online protest against NSA spying for Feb. 11. The sponsors and details are at The Day We Fight Back. We’ve established that we’re willing to blog about surveillance. The reason we have “opinion” in our tagline and “commentary” in our description is because we got so much positive feedback on that post.

Before I announce support for this, though, I want to give my first impression and discuss it. Most of the big sponsors are organizations that I respect and believe to be on the right side of the issue. There are several levels of participation, which is good. You can simply sign up and post some art on your website. You can sign a petition sponsored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others to support an international agreement to place limits on mass surveillance. You can read the 13 Necessary and Proportionate Principles here. I haven’t read them, but those of you who know me well know I am already blocking off time to analyze the document and decide whether or not post it on Facebook and tag 50 people with it.

There is talk of grassroots lobbying:

If you’re in the US: Thousands of websites will host banners urging people to call/email Congress. Plans may change, but we intend to ask legislators to oppose the FISA Improvements Act, support theUSA Freedom Act, and enact protections for non-Americans.

If you’re not in the US: Visitors will be asked to urge appropriate targets to institute privacy protections.

So, my question to you, followers and friends, comrades and contributors is: Should I make this a priority for the next couple of weeks? Do you care about this? Are you thinking about supporting it yourself? If I write about it, will you read about it?

I need to have a discussion and spend a day going over the details before I start changing profile art and adjusting my editorial schedule. I have a few more remarks after the cut for readers who are following the strategic development of these blogs and for collaborators who are supporting me by sharing on other social media.