Swanning Into Next Year -

But wait. Not so fast. Time for a sour note . . .

Our local Klepto-Blogger Rick, who banned and delinked me some time ago without any explanation, is a very angry man; however, the focus of his free-floating anger is often not very clear. Today, he sneered:

"After making overtures to the South Florida blogging community in 2009, the Miami Herald and Sun-Sentinel go back to business pretty much as usual."

This is factually untrue.

When BlogNetNews went toes up last summer, the Miami Herald "adopted" the South Florida Region aggregation group from BNN and, we presume, their organization now pays for the server costs to keep it going, which BNN could no longer afford.

Online, there is a prominent link at the bottom of their front page screen near their Columnists Section to this group of blogs which they now host at their expense. That link is on my sidebar in the local section.

Moreover, on Mondays, the Herald publishes
an excerpt from these blogs in their printed edition.

You're entitled to your own opinions,
as they say, but not your own facts.

:: SFDB ::

...

Is It All A Blur Yet? (4#) -

Lots of End-of-the-Year Reviews . . .

# Ann O'Neill provides a breezy recap of
the year in Crime & Court Cases at CNN.

# Peter Cashmore's
Tabloid Scandal Generator.

# Marking the 70-year
anniversary of the London Blitz. [bbc] - [mail]

...

Blogging Notes -

I walked with the zombies? No, not quite;
but I did feel like a frozen vegetable for a while . . .

We're coming out of another serious cold snap. Despite adverse conditions, I did manage to catch the Sunday midnight show in the International Mysteries TV series, which was a Wallander episode and the Monday evening TV presentation of Tim Burton's version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (ie: Willie Wonka).

The latter was visually stunning as far as Art Direction and Cinematography, but Johnny Depp's suspected impression of Michael Jackson made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Yesterday, I had to adopt some long overdue cyber patches from the MS Mother Ship which ate up the rest of my afternoon.

But: What about Real Life? Ah, yes, indeed . . .

I do have some regular household maintenance tasks and other things to get caught up on once I completely thaw out.

...

Passing The Baton (3#) -

Denis Dutton, who founded the website
Arts & Letters Daily in 1998, has died at the age of 66 . . .

in New Zealand, where he worked as a professor of philosophy, although he had roots in Los Angeles, where his family operated a bookstore. His death is a tremendous loss for everyone.

I was an occasional visitor to ALD, where I sometimes came across very worthwhile articles which I wouldn't have discovered on my own. I also valued the links he collected on his sidebar. And I enjoyed his banner for its sentimentally archaic touch. He will be missed.

He leaves very big shoes
for any prospective successor to fill.

:: Blake Eskin ::

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