http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Fri, 20 Aug 2004 14:55:10 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/08/20/145510.php Marvin HutchensHaving recently made my first post to this arm-pit of the web (see if they'll say I'm brown nosing now, and yes I'm just kidding) I found that while the opinions, topics and nature of the individuals present and posting are varied that the willingness to accept the opinion of others may not be. This, sadly, is a common reality in all parts of the world and particularly significant in today's popular culture.Perhaps the cause for this is our unwillingness to accept the selfish interest of each of us as individuals. We are each an imperfect being, human, and each of us are driven by our own self-interest. These self-interests often not aligned with our known or stated motives or with our betterment. The blogosphere permits us to develop the "persona" that we wish to effect for ourselves, while we often chose to do it for reasons we are unaware, and often we claim that it is for others. Few things in fact are for others, whether it be the supposed good will of the Liberal or the sharing of faith by the Religious. This being said, I declare my interest and thusly avoid the criticism of the naïve who fail to accept themselves while claiming to accept all others, I blog for my own enjoyment. There are things I enjoy more, and things that I would rather be doing, but in lieu of those things, I blog. While doing so, I may learn a thing or two, if I'm fortunate, and I may change along the way, it has been known to happen. But I do it for myself, not for you, and while you may read my post or not, the choice is your choice, and the reason is your reason, not mine. Culture18878@blogcritics.org Fri, 20 Aug 2004 14:55:10 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/08/19/165634.php Marvin HutchensIs it possible that the character of the United States of America can be defined in a weblog or blog? After all, our nation is vast in area, vast in numbers of people, and vast in outlook or world view. Many would say that it is this variety that defines the US. I do not believe this to be the case. It is rather an effect of our greater set of values that permits modern America to be so varied in view. Perhaps there are sites that better reflect the character of America, perhaps not. But BlogCritics.org has come to symbolize this to me.Blogcritics, "a sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, and technology," provides a variety of view points on subjects ranging from the silly to the significant. In the same setting that some will chose to discuss the differences between the U.S. and the Anti-Americanism found much the world over, others will chose to discuss the local music venues or artists. There are few places I've traveled that share that characteristic.I know it isn't unique to Blogcritics, or any part of this nation: that may be why I'm so fond of both, and on occasion, why both upset me so. Sci/Tech18846@blogcritics.org Thu, 19 Aug 2004 16:56:34 EDT