With the time zone difference between where I live (France) and where most of my readers are located (the US), my posts appear to come as clumps of stuff that appeared overnight to those in the US.

This bunching tends to discourage repeated visits to see “what’s new” by many readers.

Also, with the increasing use of RSS readers, newly appeared posts tend to be “on the radar” while stuff that showed up when the audience was not at the computer tends to fall off the “currently updated list” rather quickly.

My server-based blogging software, WordPress, allows for time-delayed posts. In other words, I can write a post and delay its appearance on my site until a certain date and time. So I have started playing around with this feature, trying to take advantage of it to help keep Random Fate a bit more “current” according to the US time zones. It’s caused a few problems (the trackbacks get sent immediately, so there was one case where a link existed in a weblog I trackbacked to that referred to a post that did not “exist” yet because it was on the timer), but the change in schedule seems to be helping me gain an audience from some of the RSS aggregation services out there.

Unfortunately for me, the immediate gratification aspect of blogging appealed to me when I first started, two and one-half years ago when I was still in the US.

So, I’m trying to stock up on future posts that appear at “convenient” times in the US, but balance that with the times when I either want to trackback or just absolutely need that immediate gratification.

One of the unanticipated effects of living in France.

Technorati Tags: weblogs, blogging, blogs, random thoughts

It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics.

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A brute kills for pleasure. A fool kills from hate.

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Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate—and quickly.

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Any government will work if authority and responsibility are equal and coordinate. This does not insure “good” government; it simply insures that it will work. But such governments are rare — most people want to run things but want no part of the blame. This used to be called the “backseat-driver syndrome.”

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God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent—it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.

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If it can’t be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion.

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Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

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   -Robert A. Heinlein (writing as Lazarus Long)

Technorati Tags: quotes

I tried to make Swedish meatballs last night. I saw some pre-made meatballs in the local grocery store and bought them for the purpose of making this particular dish, which is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, I didn’t have access to all of the ingredients in the recipes I have for it, so I substituted and changed things on the fly.

What I didn’t realize was that there were some spices in the pre-made meatballs, and the tastes of these were not exactly consistent with the spices and flavors I was using to make the sauce. So, while it didn’t taste bad, what I made was certainly NOT Swedish meatballs…

Note to self: next time, make your own meatballs.

Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then–we elected them.
   -Lily Tomlin