Chamblee54

This is one of those internet memes. When you have too much spare time, you do these things. The idea is, you open your browser… in this case, Firefox … and you type in A. The device will suggest things for you. You do this for all 26 letters. The 10 digits and 8 punctuation marks are optional. The credit, or blame, for this adventure goes to Adam Avitable. This is not done under oath, and you are free to change any result that is embarrassing. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. These are Union soldiers from the War Between The States. If you get tired of the text, you are encouraged to skip ahead to the pictures.
A- AJC The Atlanta Journal Constitution has been *covering Dixie like the dew* since Celestine Sibley was a blushing bride. It is affectionately known as the fishwrapper. While the dead tree version is shrinking away to nothingness, the digital face of Cox Enterprises is… uh … up on the internet, the last time we checked.
B- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia The check is in the mail.
C- Captains Dead Captains Dead is a music download site. They have all sorts of neat stuff. It is run by Gregor, who used to live in Druglessville. Or maybe not. This site used to be on Atlanta People With Blogs Who Get Together to Drink , a now defunct collection of Atlanta blogs. The social director had a baby, and doesn’t have time to organize get togethers.
D- Democracy Now This is a fine use of bandwidth. They have an hour long newscast Monday through Friday, which is usually up by 11 am EDT. If you think corporate media is too conservative, this is the place for you. You don’t have to believe everything you hear, but thinking is encouraged.
E- ESPN If you want to know the score, but don’t want to watch the game.
F- Facebook The older generation remembers a book, Nineteen Eighty-Four . It was written by George Orwell, about a dystopic future ruled by Big Brother. Mark Zuckerberg was born in 1984.
G- Gartalker’s Blog Gary owns a used car lot in Mississippi. He sometimes leaves comments on this blog. His last post was Bubba’s Car Emporium and fine Pre-owned Cars and Trucks.
H- Radiolab H is a funny letter. It is always silent in Spanish, which makes you wonder why it used in print. On the browser, there is no site that really belongs in H. For the sake of completing the meme, we will use home-Radiolab. This is a fine, fine site. It is a radio show from somewhere in New York. The old shows are all available as podcasts, and are a great background sound for multi tasking. They will sometimes ask for money. Public broadcasting is like that.
I- Informed Comment This is a jewel. Dr. Juan Cole works at the University of Michigan, and produces a dandy site when it is too cold to go outside. “Welcome to Informed Comment, where I do my best to provide an independent and informed perspective on Middle Eastern and American politics.” He does not believe everything that Israel says. The latest post here is Rafsanjani: Iran does not Want Nukes, Should improve relations with US, Saudi. How many people know that Iran and Saudi Arabia are not BFF?
J- Joe.My.G-d. , Jesus and Mo This is a double feature. Joe Jervis is the best blogger in the United States, and possibly the world. He started out by telling heart warming stories (check the “readers favorites”), and has progressed into journalism of gay politics, Broadway, dance music, and cats. Joe is good enough to overlook his use of three periods in the name of his blog. (This story is not on the sidebar, but it will make you cry. Be sure to read it to the end.) Jesus and Mo are good buddies who have philosophical differences. They hang out at a bar, where the barmaid eats their intellectual lunch. We never see the barmaid, as it is forbidden to draw her image. “Jesus & Mo is licensed under a Creative Commons License:Feel free to copy for noncommercial purposes, under the same license. Please provide a link back to jesusandmo.net ”
K- Kiko’s House Shaun Mullen used to be an ink stained wretch. Now he writes a blog. Kiko’s has commentary on current events, and appreciations of performers that Mr. Mullen appreciates. PG found Kiko’s on his lunch hour five years ago, when it posted an appreciation of the 3000 th American soldier to die in Iraq. (That number might be off by a bit.) To his credit, Mr. Mullen is still producing posts. So many bloggers burn out and get cable tv.
L- The Chronicle Tales of the Neo_Prodigy Denny Upkins is a hard working young man, who has published his first novel, Hollowstone. Mr. Upkins has banned PG from leaving comments, which means that PG is required to read The Chronicle. In the aftermath of the 2008, Mr. Upkins was offended by the reaction, of some pundits, to the passage of Proposition 8. There were some angry posts written. In the comments to one, PG called BS on something that Mr. Upkins wrote. These things happen.
M- Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub Ed Darrell is a science teacher in Texas. He thinks global warming is real. MFB is an entertaining stop, and receives the occasional comment from Chamblee54.
N- The Fiction Podcast @ The New Yorker This is another friend of the multi tasker. Someone (usually another writer) reads a short story from the New Yorker archive. Afterwards, the reader discusses the story with Deborah Treisman, the New Yorker’s fiction editor. You can listen on an embedded player, or download an MP3 for later use. The tone is a bit too NPR for PG’s taste, but it is what it is.
O- Obsidian Wings You will find intelligent postings, and a lively comment section here. They don’t like it when you promote your blog in the comments. “This is the Voice of Moderation. I wouldn’t go so far as to say we’ve actually SEIZED the radio station . . . ”
P- Pyromaniacs This is a bunch of Jesus worshipers. PG is banned from commenting here. The pyrobois love to argue about correct doctrine. It is fun to look in the twitter feed, and see what they really think. Many of the things that are repulsive about christianity will be found at this site.
Q- cvs near Norcross, GA Q is a quaint letter. Queer, quiet, quote, Quasimodo. When you type q in the address bar, the top result is a google map for cvs pharmacies. For some bizarre reason, Mr. Google seems to think that PG lives in Norcross, which is a fine town if you like traffic jams.
R- Return To Atlanta This is a recently discovered favorite. It is recently discovered because it started publication in January of 2012. Somebody had too much free time in the nineties, and took a lot of pictures in Atlanta’s urban underbelly. Twenty years later, this same somebody (who probably does not live in Snellville) is posting these pictures, along with shots of the present day condos. Many of the posts are centered on the Atlanta Beltline.
S- Shorpy This is a photo blog. It has lots of historic pictures. This is where PG learned about the collections at The Library of Congress. Shorpy is named for Shorpy Higginbotham, “a ‘greaser’ on the tipple at Bessie Mine, of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Co. in Alabama. Said he was 14 years old, but it is doubtful. Carries two heavy pails of grease, and is often in danger of being run over by the coal cars.” The picture was taken in 1910.
T- The Field Negro This site is written by a Philadelphia lawyer. He takes an African American perspective on events. PG does not always agree with Field, but finds what he says to be worthwhile.
U- Funny Paperz U is an under appreciated letter. The best link we can offer today is the blogspot home of Joe King. His fifteen minutes of fame were in December, 2011. He does not post often. On February 2, Mr. King posted a fan letter. “Your comics suck. I would recommend suicide, but that would still leave your terrible comics around, poisoning the planet like spent Uranium 235 rods. No, I want you to go back in time and kill your mother while you’re in utero. I know this would create a time paradox and possibly unravel reality as we know it, but it is a risk I am willing to take.”
V- Bloggingheads TV PG listens to, and comments at, Bloggingheads often. It is a fine institution which deserves your support. This is another place where you can download an MP3, which is a good idea because their server has frequent hissy fits. The link today is for a video of Rick Santorum moving his lips.
W- World Class Stupid Roman Hans is six foot eight inches tall, and lives in Brooklyn. WCS has stories about his life. There is a sidebar, “my blog list”, which links to the latest post from Chamblee54. It also links to WTF Japan Seriously.
X- xkcd “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.” Just two more to go.
Y- Beehive Candy Yes, yahoo and youtube came up first, but they are not as much fun as Beehive Candy. This is a music download site. BC is not as much fun as it used to be. There have been some changes in the world of file uploading servers, and a lot of material is not available anymore. We may already have de facto SOPA, with or without a law.
Z- Transcript of George Zimmerman’s 911 call There is a good reason for Z being in last place.
One more paragraph is needed to make this come out evenly. Ninety nigh thithea. Nurea cow. Ize a cry giya thinking buddy. In the depth, the last rotting corpse of the slimy thoroughfare lifted an inch. Mutant dogs came down on the hunger city. All I wanted was a pepsi. Meet me in the back of the blue bus. Someone left a pie out in the snow. Hope Change. We will be greeted as liberators. Franken furter, its all over, your mission is a failure, your lifestyles too extreme. Furthermore, less is more, the lawn needs mowing. Tip your waitress.