So, the ISP applied some updates to the server, and Apache needed to be restarted, and blah blah blah.....
From about 1:30PM to 7:00PM UUpdates didn't pull in any updates from any websites. According to the ISP everything should be fine now.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
200 Sites listed
Welcome back to Errant Frogs! And with this "addition" UUpdates has now hit 200 sites that it is tracking. Google analytics tells me that just shy of 4,000 visits have been made and there have been about 12,000 page views (which includes links out to sites) in the past month. In terms of "unique" visitors it reports an avergae daily of about 50, and the visitor recency and loyalty numbers look very good. A majority of the loyal visitors come back daily, and they have been to the site hundreds of times.
Of course not everyone may be excited by the increase in numbers. We all have precious little time, and people have their favorites. So, all I can say is that one day the ability to customize the list of sites tracked will return. Really. I just don't know when.
What have I been busy with? Well, I have been helping out with the Prairie Star District site conversion from static HTML page to using PmWiki and some of the efforts that have been made have been offered back to the PmWiki Open Source community so that others can benefit as well.
I have also been putting a large amount of effort into a resource directory for Unitarian Universalists called Stonetree UU. We are hoping to have a new version out soon with many improvements in search capability, and options for the users. What does the site do? Well, basically it allows UUs to recommend people to other UU congregations. In the Prairie Star District there are a number of small congregations that primarily use visiting speakers on Sunday mornings. This gives the congregations a way to promote speakers and musicians they have enjoyed, and promotes speakers and musicians in the district. When the site gets further towards beta testing I will make an announcement here. When the site is ready for release we hope to be able to offer this sites functionality to other districts. I am the lead developer for this site, but very grateful that this site is not a solo project.
Oh, and a last tidbit from the weblogs. Where do people go after they visit? Well, here are the top 30 spots (in order of most visits) for the past month:
Of course not everyone may be excited by the increase in numbers. We all have precious little time, and people have their favorites. So, all I can say is that one day the ability to customize the list of sites tracked will return. Really. I just don't know when.
What have I been busy with? Well, I have been helping out with the Prairie Star District site conversion from static HTML page to using PmWiki and some of the efforts that have been made have been offered back to the PmWiki Open Source community so that others can benefit as well.
I have also been putting a large amount of effort into a resource directory for Unitarian Universalists called Stonetree UU. We are hoping to have a new version out soon with many improvements in search capability, and options for the users. What does the site do? Well, basically it allows UUs to recommend people to other UU congregations. In the Prairie Star District there are a number of small congregations that primarily use visiting speakers on Sunday mornings. This gives the congregations a way to promote speakers and musicians they have enjoyed, and promotes speakers and musicians in the district. When the site gets further towards beta testing I will make an announcement here. When the site is ready for release we hope to be able to offer this sites functionality to other districts. I am the lead developer for this site, but very grateful that this site is not a solo project.
Oh, and a last tidbit from the weblogs. Where do people go after they visit? Well, here are the top 30 spots (in order of most visits) for the past month:
- PeaceBang
- The ChaliceBlog
- PeaceBang's Beauty Tips For Ministers
- The Happy Feminist
- Yet Another Unitarian Universalist
- Reflections
- The Journey
- Philocrites
- Making Chutney
- Boy in the bands
- Media Nation
- Shadow of Diogenes
- The Wild Hunt
- arbitrarymarks.com
- it's all one thing
- Lo-Fi Tribe
- Elizabeth's Little Blog
- CUUMBAYA
- Ms. Kitty's Saloon and Road Show
- ministrare
- A People So Bold!
- Sisyphus
- iMinister
- Trivium
- RadicalHapa is Joseph Santos-Lyons
- Sexuality and Religion: What's the Connection?
- Jess's Journal
- Paul Wilczynski's Observations
- Rev. Sam Trumbore
- debitage
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Blog Award Description
A while back someone commented that the description I put together for the UU Blog Awards was, to put it politely, lacking. I wholeheartedly agree. I believe my response to that was along the lines of "good observation, I'll fix it by the next time the blog awards role around". But now it occurs to me that others are still linking to it, and it is still getting traffic, and the description is still lacking.
Would someone be willing to write up a description? Why do we do the awards? Whatever seems appropriate to include. What should be included in the explanation? I'm not even sure. I can easily write code for collecting information and displaying the results, but I know that others out there could write a much better description.
If anyone is willing either comment here or drop me a line here.
Would someone be willing to write up a description? Why do we do the awards? Whatever seems appropriate to include. What should be included in the explanation? I'm not even sure. I can easily write code for collecting information and displaying the results, but I know that others out there could write a much better description.
If anyone is willing either comment here or drop me a line here.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
It should be like that
To put this in context this is a lengthy response to Peacebang in her
"God loves You, you Know It" post. She wrote "Another reader shared
some deep doubts about some of the essential claims made by liberal
religion, saying, 'I am a part of a liberal religion because it's the
way I think things should be, but that doesn't mean I believe it.' I
found this comment intriguing and honest, and had the sense that many
of us would like to hear more about these ideas if Jason (my name
is John) was willing to write more about them."
As they say, you asked for it....
...
There is a story by Dr. Suess called "Horton Hatches the Egg". In the
story Horton sits on top of an egg at the request of Mayzie, the lazy
bird who doesn't want to do the work. Horton suffers many ordeals for
his troubles, and in the end the egg produces an "Elephant-Bird"
instead of a bird. On the page where the elephant-bird is produced,
Dr. Suess throws in the lines "And it should be, it should be,
it SHOULD be like that! Because Horton was faithful! He sat and he
sat!" and it has always bugged me every time I have read the page. I
have yet to figure out why Dr. Suess chose to emphasize what anyone
with a basic understanding of biology knows — It wouldn't be like that.
If by some absurd circumstance an elephant found itself perched on a
bird's egg it would not create a new species. Like the reassuring
repeated lie of a parent during a tornado "Everything is going to be
ok, everything is going to be ok, ..." it is the lie we want to
believe, but don't know if it's true. No matter how much we hope,
think or feel things should be different that won't change reality.
...
One night I sat, staying up late, reading a debate between some folks
on a religious Bulletin Board. The topic was the acceptability of
homosexuality, and in particular the translation of the Greek word
"Arsenokoites". I was rooting for the fellow who was arguing in favor
of God's acceptance of homosexuality. And then it struck me. I
didn't care who was right, I didn't care how God felt.
This was in the south, with honest to goodness hell fire and brimstone
preachers making appearances on campus. Hell was a very popular
concept, and not to be dismissed. What I realized at that instant was
this. If the hell fire and brimstone line of thought was indeed
correct then I felt that God was more deserving of my contempt than
worship. Anyone who could inflict an eternity of torture upon people
was more a monster than Hitler, the folks who perpetuated Abu Ghraib,
and Jeffrey Dahmer combined. And if God hated homosexuals because
they are the way God created them, then God be damned.
I knew why I was rooting for the person who argued against the hell
fire and brimstone God, because it made sense. It was right. It no
longer mattered to me who had the better argument, the deeper
theological understanding, the more extensive reading list, the better
understanding of ancient Greek, etc. basically the truer understanding
of God. None of it mattered. I wasn't sure about God, but by golly I
knew I was right. I knew the way things should be.
Unfortunatly belief is a feeling and not a conclusion. Sure I think
it makes sense. But my way of thinking doesn't change the universe.
Every so often I feel like God is the egg, and I am looking at it
thinking "it should be, it should be, it SHOULD be like that"
waiting for the elephant-bird to pop out of the egg. But some deeper
part of me expects to see the bird pop out.
What I do know is that if the bird does pop out, and I am faced with
the hell fire and brimstone God, all I will say is "it should be like
that". And most often I take solace in knowing that it's all just
going to end, and I will have lived my life by what I thought was
right.
I am no longer trying to understand God, and live by that
understanding. I am doing what I think is right and hoping that if
there is a God, that God approves. It is simply not necessary for me
to believe God and the universe conform to my way of thinking. What I
do with my life matters to me, and that is enough.
"God loves You, you Know It" post. She wrote "Another reader shared
some deep doubts about some of the essential claims made by liberal
religion, saying, 'I am a part of a liberal religion because it's the
way I think things should be, but that doesn't mean I believe it.' I
found this comment intriguing and honest, and had the sense that many
of us would like to hear more about these ideas if Jason (my name
is John) was willing to write more about them."
As they say, you asked for it....
...
There is a story by Dr. Suess called "Horton Hatches the Egg". In the
story Horton sits on top of an egg at the request of Mayzie, the lazy
bird who doesn't want to do the work. Horton suffers many ordeals for
his troubles, and in the end the egg produces an "Elephant-Bird"
instead of a bird. On the page where the elephant-bird is produced,
Dr. Suess throws in the lines "And it should be, it should be,
it SHOULD be like that! Because Horton was faithful! He sat and he
sat!" and it has always bugged me every time I have read the page. I
have yet to figure out why Dr. Suess chose to emphasize what anyone
with a basic understanding of biology knows — It wouldn't be like that.
If by some absurd circumstance an elephant found itself perched on a
bird's egg it would not create a new species. Like the reassuring
repeated lie of a parent during a tornado "Everything is going to be
ok, everything is going to be ok, ..." it is the lie we want to
believe, but don't know if it's true. No matter how much we hope,
think or feel things should be different that won't change reality.
...
One night I sat, staying up late, reading a debate between some folks
on a religious Bulletin Board. The topic was the acceptability of
homosexuality, and in particular the translation of the Greek word
"Arsenokoites". I was rooting for the fellow who was arguing in favor
of God's acceptance of homosexuality. And then it struck me. I
didn't care who was right, I didn't care how God felt.
This was in the south, with honest to goodness hell fire and brimstone
preachers making appearances on campus. Hell was a very popular
concept, and not to be dismissed. What I realized at that instant was
this. If the hell fire and brimstone line of thought was indeed
correct then I felt that God was more deserving of my contempt than
worship. Anyone who could inflict an eternity of torture upon people
was more a monster than Hitler, the folks who perpetuated Abu Ghraib,
and Jeffrey Dahmer combined. And if God hated homosexuals because
they are the way God created them, then God be damned.
I knew why I was rooting for the person who argued against the hell
fire and brimstone God, because it made sense. It was right. It no
longer mattered to me who had the better argument, the deeper
theological understanding, the more extensive reading list, the better
understanding of ancient Greek, etc. basically the truer understanding
of God. None of it mattered. I wasn't sure about God, but by golly I
knew I was right. I knew the way things should be.
Unfortunatly belief is a feeling and not a conclusion. Sure I think
it makes sense. But my way of thinking doesn't change the universe.
Every so often I feel like God is the egg, and I am looking at it
thinking "it should be, it should be, it SHOULD be like that"
waiting for the elephant-bird to pop out of the egg. But some deeper
part of me expects to see the bird pop out.
What I do know is that if the bird does pop out, and I am faced with
the hell fire and brimstone God, all I will say is "it should be like
that". And most often I take solace in knowing that it's all just
going to end, and I will have lived my life by what I thought was
right.
I am no longer trying to understand God, and live by that
understanding. I am doing what I think is right and hoping that if
there is a God, that God approves. It is simply not necessary for me
to believe God and the universe conform to my way of thinking. What I
do with my life matters to me, and that is enough.
Monday, July 10, 2006
New Logo
I finally thought of a chalice/logo for UUpdates. The image is very basic chalice with two portions of a circle surrounding it. Lest anyone think that the partial circles are a theological commentary I will point out that it's inspired by the Live Bookmark button used by Firefox. For an explanation of the logo (Firefox's not mine) check out this post. I wanted a similar idea.
In case it changes on the site in the future here is the version I am talking about.
I am not a graphic artist, I was inspired but this does not imbue me with natural talent for graphic design. If you do have such skills and are so inclined I would truly appreciate someone taking the "radiating chalice" idea and making something that looks really nice.
In case it changes on the site in the future here is the version I am talking about.
I am not a graphic artist, I was inspired but this does not imbue me with natural talent for graphic design. If you do have such skills and are so inclined I would truly appreciate someone taking the "radiating chalice" idea and making something that looks really nice.
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