Quick Roundup 53

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Blog in Flux

1. For at least the next week, I will have only limited access to my blog and non-work email during working hours. I appreciate comments and email no less than before, even if it looks like I'm blowing them off!

2. I am thinking of doing away with my weekly "Around the Web" roundups or posting them less frequently. If you're a big fan of these, now is the time to speak up. Heck. If you hate them, now is the time to speak up, too!

3. Speaking of which.... This week's roundup will be on Thursday, as will all future ones, if I decide to keep posting them.

Welcome back, Zach!

If you were wondering where Zach Oakes went off to, you can go here to find out. Better yet, you can just visit his main page and start scrolling.

Gus Van Horn Shakes up the Market!

My blog entry from last night, on the nationalization of the petrochemical industry in Bolivia appears on the Google Finance page for Petroleo Brasileiro, or at least it did as of this writing. If it's still there, it'll be on the bottom right. I forgot to mention this, but I shot down GM a few weeks back, too, when I mentioned their ginormous medical liability.

Calumet K Online!

Via Ian Hamet, here it is!

Objectivism on Campus

As a followup to a previous posting, I note that Mike at Passing Thoughts has blogged a recent NYU event on Objectivist campus clubs.

Mike's Eyes on Gitmo

Awhile back, on the subject of the Bush administration's plans to transfer prisoners out of Gitmo, I said the following: "Is Gitmo being flushed down the toilet of political expediency or is this a legitimate move? If Bush won't tell us himself, time will."

Mike gives us an update. He starts off by quoting a report from the New York Times that got picked up by a paper in Detroit:

A long-running effort by the Bush administration to send home many of the terror suspects imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been stymied in part because of concern among U.S. officials that the prisoners may not be treated humanely by their own governments, officials said. [bold added]
Great.

Unrest in Iran?

Willy Shake points to pictures and coverage from National Review. Discontent with a plainly evil regime does not always equal friendliness towards America, but I'd like to see a lot more of this going on, anyway.

Blogroll Addition

I have added Periscope Journal, the blog of Jack, a fellow ex-submariner, to my blogroll. In addition to being off to a good start content-wise, its template is really sharp looking. I find his thoughts on the situation in Iran very interesting.
[T]he Iranians face a daunting task. They must continue enrichment, dispose of the seaborne threat, prevent the use of US airpower, and preserve a ready force to combat a potential land assault. Carrying out these objectives while preserving order, avoiding the psychological impact of not knowing when or where the threat will appear, and dealing with the economic impact of alienating the world is a daunting task for the Iranian regime.
Whether this is by design is debatable, but it is comforting to know that Bush's dithering on Iran might be having a destabilizing effect on its regime.

-- CAV

6 comments:

bothenook said...

ohno! you can't discontinue the weekly roundup. everyone dipping into the pool that is the blogosphere taps different parts. many great places have been brought to my attention by your blogging them.
please allow me to bring up the very old saw about bloggers: blogs are very much like friends reading different newspapers and saying "hey, look at this!"
we look in different places. and i look when you point out. hell, i've learned a hell of a lot more by following roundup links than on my own.

Gus Van Horn said...

Bo,

Thanks for your input and the encouragement. You'll be glad to know that since posting about that subject, I have begun to lean towards keeping the roundups.

My biggest concern right now is that they sometimes take a lot more time than the other posts. The new job will be very good for me in the long run, but time might be a real issue, especially at first, since I am moving into a different area of research and have to get up to speed.

I am hoping that I'll more or less be able to continue as before or, at worst, make shorter roundups or just skip a week here and there if I really have to....

Gus

bothenook said...

hey bucko. nobody will bitch if you back off to do your real job. it's just nice to get an informed and DIFFERENT view of info available.
i know the roundups take time. do i ever. i tried them for a while, and gave up trying to pass on ALL of the goodies i found out there.
having said that, i hope you don't completely pull the plug. you always post good stuff that i typically don't find on my own. of course, if i posted all the interesting or cool stuff i found, it would be a full time job just trying to keep up! ain't the blogosphere a wonderful thing?

Gus Van Horn said...

Bo,

I've decided to go ahead with the roundups in some form, on Thursdays....

Work is part of the problem. The need for more time to do non-blog writing, which takes much more effort, is another. I have some time to see whether I can make it all work before making any big changes, if I have to. In any event, since I want readers to keep coming, it's important to know that the roundups are appreciated and might not be the first place to cut back....

But yes the blogosphere is a wonderful thing! Blogging is a great hobby!

Gus

Anonymous said...

Hey Gus,

Many thanks for the warm words. I appreciate them.

Gus Van Horn said...

My pleasure, Jack!

Gus