Chamblee54

Back when “vanity website” weblogs were devolving into blogs, the blogroll was part of the show. You would list other blogs. Sometimes they would return the favor. If you were stuck on a strange machine, the blogroll helped you find familiar sites. You could support people starting new ventures. It was very cool, until the gift (google I facebook twitter) changed everything. People got tired of reading >140 characters. But the blogroll remained. Every now and then, it needs to be cleaned out.
So it is today. Before we got started, there were 64 names on the blogroll. 21 will be taken off this afternoon. The first casualty, and perhaps the most important, is Andrew Sullivan. His blog was a powerhouse. It had a series of high power hosts, then went on to self maintain through paid subscriptions. Mr. Sullivan, who does not suffer from false modesty, published a piece, Why I Blog. Supposedly, the worst thing you can do to a blogger is ignore them.
The next notable casualty is Blog for Democracy. BFD had a recent post, to dissect the fall of Peach Pundit. Started by certified poopyhead Erick Erickson, Peach Pundit evolved into an inclusive source of news, and commentary, about Georgia politics. It is uncertain what happened, except that most of the staff quit at once. The BFD piece, Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?*, is a bit of blog history. In this telling, the rise of facebook spoiled everything.
Two sites that deserve comment are Iraq Body Count and Palestinian Pundit. (The site that hosted Angry Arab now has hoverboard reviews.) To date in Iraq, there are “Documented civilian deaths from violence 152,037 – 171,952, Total violent deaths including combatants 242,000.” This was not from greeting the American forces as liberators. And the struggle goes on. Iraq: Authorities turn blind eye to Shi’a militia vicious reprisal killings.
There are some little stories. Two of the best names, Awkward Boners and Glitter for Brains, are no longer in business. The owner of Atlanta Time Machine was in a horrible bicycle crash, and has been in a struggle to recover. One other facility says “This blog is open to invited readers only.” PG thought he was on good terms with the owner. The PG noticed that the invited-readers-dude had blocked PG on twitter. Sometimes you just have to wonder.
Chamblee54 is here to stay. It would be fun if a few more readers discovered this site. Last year there were 39,000 visitors, or about one day of traffic at Joe.My.God. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Editing pictures from this fine resource is a great hobby, and a blog is a fine place to put them. These men were soldiers in the War Between the States.