Postcards from the Funny Farm

The fact is that deficits can be payed down, just like they have been time and again during the boom periods of the last two decades. But screwing with the housing market, by engendering even more fiscal irresponsibility, isn’t nearly as easy to fix.

-The Bailout Game

Most people have noticed by now that the new “Blogger” service, recently acquired by Google, has changed their commenting format. Before, a user could put her/his name and linkback to her/his blog into the comments field and in doing so, link their blog in the comment chain. This is and has been the lifeblood of blog networking since it’s inception in the late 90’s. A few people responded to me recently, defending Blogger, that all they did was do away with anonymous commenting … not true. Though it may seem that is what they did, anonymous commenting is still allowed. The catch is, Google will know who you are because you must have a Google/Blogger blog. This is bad for many reasons but here are a few for starters:

What they want to do now is sign up for a Google account which allows you to add your user name to the comment, add a nickname or leave an anonymous comment. But even if you have a Google account it does not allow you to link to your blog url unless you are on Blogger. So, as you can see, it still allows anonymous commenting. Doing away with such commenting is not their true motive.

So what is it then? I am not sure. Here are a few guesses:

• Get more blogs hosted on Blogger, regardless of its many limitations.
• Eliminate all blog-hop traffic to non-Blogger blogs. (this is now in place)
• Eliminate all “back-links” within 6 months from Blogger blogs to non-Blogger blogs that once increased their page rank and Technorati rankings.
• Harm advertising rankings that enable many bloggers to make profit.
• Make Blogger a network to find only new Blogger blogs and prevent discovery of the millions of blogs self-hosted or hosted outside of Blogger, such as mine.

So, whereas before I simply found the comment system cumbersome on Blogger, I now find it meddlesome and non-inclusive of the breadth of bloggers that exist in 2008.

Bad move Blogger. Let them know by digging, stumbling, and otherwise sharing this and any post related to the “new Blogger.” Maybe we can get them to see the errors of this approach to commenting.

Gracias.

Note: It is not the bloggers themselves I don’t like at Blogger, but rather the company behind it because they disallow linkbacks to those who leave comments. This defeats the whole purpose of blogging and networking, unless of course everyone goes with Blogger.

Abraham Lincoln said:”I would rather remain silent in a group and be thought a fool than stand and speak and remove all doubt.” I was in this position yesterday and I chose to speak. I hope it wasn’t foolish. I have no regrets but it is an event I just can’t get out of my head.While half or more of the people on my staff at work are positive and thriving individuals doing good work, there is a handful that are naysayers and negative. It has gotten so bad that lawsuits have been threatened against supervisors and even fellow teachers. It is a situation one finds hard to tolerate day after day, year after year. The administration decided it would be a good idea to have an outside agency come in to help us get along better. It was a good idea, in theory. It is continuing through the month and I am hopeful that it changes these few people, but I am hedging my bets.There was a part of the staff meeting known as an “encounter” moment where they asked people to speak up if they knew ways we could improve the environment. I of course stood up and shared my feelings about these people (without naming names) and gave a few suggestions as to how we might rectify the situation. After I spoke there was a fair amount of applause which felt good to hear. It showed agreement. I knew not everyone was applauding though but I didn’t care.

Today I had a handful of people thank me personally for saying what they thought needed to be said but that they didn’t think anyone could say but me. You see, I’m a bit of an “everyman” at my work. I’m not 100% into becoming an administrator yet at the same time, I respect the admin and work with them well. In addition, I am also very supportive of the union and new teachers especially. Most importantly, I am driven by student achievement and I don’t like distractions from that pursuit. It was great getting the encouragement from these people, It made me realize that sometimes I have to speak up, even when it might be controversial because in some cases, I am the only individual whose voice might make a point, or even better: a difference. Next time I will be more brief though, I am realistic with myself and my biggest critic. i went a little long even though everyone told me it was just right. Keep ‘em wanting more is better, I always say.

Ok, after having read a good chunk of the book the new movie, The Golden Compass is based on, I feel I can make a reasonable statement as to its content.

There is a definite anti-Christian element to it, rest assured of that. However, though I define myself as a Christian, I will be going to see it because I feel it presents an important human message of: acceptance.

There are three main points in the book I’d like to shine light on and then briefly explain my position on the movie as a blogger, teacher, dad, and Christian. First: the “daemons,” or the animals that people have with them from childhood into adulthood are a fun idea. Who wouldn’t want their own animal that talked going with them wherever they go? The child and animal feel each other’s feelings. I see this as the conscience of a person or alter-ego. I also like the idea that this animal can change shape while the human is a child but when they get into adolescence and adulthood, the creature becomes fixed in form. This to me represents the openness of youth and how we tend to get set in our ways into adulthood. A true statement that encourages the open-minded wonder of youth. I heard much the same message in The Bridge to Terabithia this past year.

The second point of the book is that human vices are valuable to life and society. I couldn’t agree more. While I love church, and first and foremost God, I have been hurt in my youth by some very abusive people that came from the church. I was never molested or anything physical, but sometimes the mental abuse that unhealthy, unbalanced churches dole out can be even more debilitating. Accepting that we are all not the same and that we all can’t be forced into the same category is an important part of being a loving member of the human race. This is so important to teach our kids. This is true whether you are in the church or if you have no faith at all. I think the church should look to this concept to learn something and become a more loving “movement” in our modern culture. This message of acceptance that include vice and flaws is a continuous theme throughout The Golden Compass. If nothing else the Golden Compass should serve to Christians as an example of how we can sometimes make people feel guilty. When will the church stop doing that?

The final point of the book is the idea of dust, or sin. Pullman obviously believes the idea of a “Satan” figure who would embrace sin is to be a hero in his book. I would say I disagree on this point. Sin kills, end of report. It’s never something we should encourage our kids to monkey around with (no pun intended since Mrs. Coulter’s daemon is a monkey). But we as Christians should take to heart that church abuse of people is what has created this novel. It is not a novel about killing God (that I can see anyway) but rather a novel about liberation of ones mind to believe how one wishes. Pullman apparently doesn’t believe that a Christian can believe and have a high place in his fantasy world, but I take no offense at that. In my world they can and often do :) He is a gifted writer nonetheless and I think his book has good morals.

I think seeing this film for it’s celebration of individuality and not being just a blind follower of a church is a great thing for anyone (in theory, I still haven’t seen it ;). But ideas of killing God and other anti-Christian gobbledygook are boring and tired and one hopes will be left out of the film adaptation. I say Christians should give themeselves the green light on this one. Take your kids and talk about the messages in the film. Stay tuned for my review of the film next week!

What is your feedback on these thoughts?