Quick Roundup 549

Browser Problems

[Update: Thanks to Darren Cauthon's suggestion to rid my blog template of a Javascript include, the problem appears to be resolved.]

Amit Ghate informed me last night (and I confirmed) that Firefox for Windows does not load my blog properly. I eliminated last night's minor template change as the problem and now suspect a bug in Firefox itself. If you're on Windows, reading this in a feed reader, and want to visit the site, you may need to use Google Chrome or Internet Explorer. Those both work for me.

The link above offers a few steps on how to rectify/troubleshoot this problem, but I won't be able to try them until this evening. If you try any of these yourself (or know what the problem might be), email me or take advantage of the new feature I added last night to drop me a note...

Template Change

I have an interesting idea for a new look for the blog, but it's going to be a while before I can roll that out. In the meantime, I've added a new feature to the present layout. At the upper right is now an embedded question/comment form.

Alan Sullivan, RIP

Alan Sullivan, author of Fresh Bilge has died of cancer. Brendan Loy has written a nice tribute.

I first discovered Alan's blog in 2004, during Hurricane Ivan. ... His commentary on the tropics was indispensable to me in 2004, and became even more so in 2005, when the Atlantic erupted with a record 28 storms, including Hurricane Katrina (my blog coverage of which was, of course, a defining event of my decade).

But before long, I found myself drawn to more than just Alan's hurricane coverage. Here was a highly intelligent and thoughtful man, a superb writer with a keen intellect and a broad array of interests that he eagerly blogged about -- weather and other natural disasters, yes, but also politics and religion and culture, not to mention the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ideologically, we could hardly have been more different. But Alan challenged me and fascinated me. Even when I thought he was absolutely dead wrong -- wronger than wrong -- his commentary and analysis was always worth reading. And so was the lighter fare: Alan was a person who loved aesthetic beauty... [minor edits]

Loy's discovery of Sullivan as a weather blogger, and his subsequent respect for his other writing both parallel my own. I will miss Sullivan's work.

More Po Bronson

A quick peek at Po Bronson's web site pursuant to yesterday's post unearthed the following intriguing book title: What Should I Do With My Life? Here's an excerpt from one of the ten sample chapters posted there.

I began this project because I hit that point in my life. The television show I’d been writing for was canceled. The magazines I wrote for had thinned their pages. My longtime book editor had quit to pursue theater and film. I was out of work, I had a baby on the way (my first), and I was worried: how to be a good father, how to make money to support my family, and how to keep growing as a writer. I probably could have hustled up an assignment (the freelancer’s equivalent of "Just go get a job"), but I wasn’t sure I should. I felt like the kinds of stories I’d been telling no longer worked. They no longer mapped the depth and drama of human life as I experienced it.

Looking for guidance and courage at this crossroads, I became intrigued by people who had unearthed their true calling, or at least those who were willing to try. Those who fought with the seduction of money, intensity, and novelty, but overcame their allure. Those who broke away from the chorus to learn the sound of their own voice. Nothing seemed more brave to me than facing up to one’s own identity, and filtering out the chatter that tells us to be someone we’re not.

What might I learn from those who had confronted this question?

This is one I will read sooner rather than later.

Dan Brown, Eh?

According to a writing analyzer, my blogging most resembles the work of Dan Brown, best known for writing The Da Vinci Code.

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

(HT: Trey "David Foster Wallace" Peden)

-- CAV

Updates

Today: (1) Added update to first section. (2) Minor edits.