Metacentricities

As you probably recall, I recently moved this blog from Typepad to Wordpress. It was an easy process, and one that was well worth it. But, of course, spammers of all stripes (email spammers, comment spammers, weblog spammers) are like mold growing on a piece of bread that’s been out for a few days. In order to avoid having to cough up $150 for another year, and to move to an entirely free and open source platform that I control, I cancelled my typepad account. And, I guess, people watch typepad, pay attention to page rank and google, because this is what showed up on the typepad url only days after I canceled my account:

What’s amazing to me, actually, is how dumb they are. Why they think readers of my blog would be interested in firearms, I’m not exactly sure. At first, I thought it might be Six Apart trying to goad me to re-sign up my account, but I decided that’s probably something they don’t have time for.

And the very very sad part is that if you google me, this is now the top link. I have NO idea how that would happen, since my name is nowhere in the page (or even in the cached version they have, which is also post-cancellation.

I’m imagining it will fall off at some point, but I think I’m going to have to start doing something about it. If you have a link on your blogroll to my blog, please check to make sure it is http://www.metacentricities.com!! Thanks!!

So, here’s the lesson. If you’re thinking about starting a blog, and you’re debating between self-hosting and a commercial service, self-host, because even if you do domain mapping with the commercial service (which I did for a year) it doesn’t matter, in the end, you don’t have control.

I was doing some searching for blog posts relating to women and technology, and I came across Basic Blogging for Women. It’s actually run by someone I know of in the nonprofit technology field - Britt Bravo. It’s a great place to start, if you’re thinking about starting a blog.

Technorati Tags: nptech, blogging

Well, sorry to say, the comment spam has gotten to be too much, so I’m moderating comments. Sorry for the minor inconvenience to folks (not that too many people comment on my blog anyway.)

Well, life changes, things change, so, well, my blogs will change. I’ve had three blogs since I’ve been blogging, this main blog, which I’ve basically had for three years, the technology desk, which I had for about 3 months, which I killed because I realized I couldn’t maintain it in seminary, and my ministry blog (The Contemplative and the Mystic), which has been going for more than a year.

So what’s the next blog configuration? My main blog has always reflected the broad range of issues I’m interested in. The ancillary blogs have been specific, for specific purposes. I think that will continue. I’ll have a main blog, and I’ll spin off a couple of blogs that reflect specific interests that I want to delve into more deeply. I’ll be doing a lot of writing in the next year or so, as that, I think, for now, will be a major focus for me. I will leave alive, but not maintain, the ministry blog (I have found, over the past couple of months, I’ve had less and less to say, although that may well change.)

I am resurrecting the technology blog, and calling it Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology. The subtitle is "Conscious, minimalist, neo-luddite perspectives on nonprofit technology." The first post will give you some ideas on what it’s going to be about.

Stay tuned for other updates.

Here’s this weeks Progressive Faith Blog Carnival!

Some posts this week ask questions, or make comments relating to the events happening in the Levant. Chris asks about loving violence. Radical Torah looks at Lebanon through the eyes of Tisha b’Av, a Jewish commemoration of tragedies. Islamicate asks about the Arab response to the war in Lebanon. The Shalom Center gives us 10 ways to save the lives of Abraham’s children.

On other topics, Anothercountry talks about Habitat for Humanity vs. housing coops. Reverend Mommy was tagged. Seeking Sophia starts a new ministry. Mata H. posts her long to do list. Boy in the Bands is helping churches build websites.

Hoarded ordinaries talks about newts. JSpot is asking whether Jewish Democrats are dying out. Semitism.net sees the links between Katrina and the Bush Administrations vision of the "new Middle East." Mainstream Baptist reminds us about Iraq. Father Jake continues to discuss issues that are causing controversy in the Episcopal church.

No More Apples doesn’t like Lieberman and likes Al Gore. Xpatriated Texan discusses theology and abortion. Woodmore Village asks the fascinating question "What’s a Buddhist to do about Rapture?" Rev. Debra celebrates the 100th blog post over at Sexuality and Religion (congrats!)

And community and organizational blogs are having interesting conversations. Street Prophets has a great series on what every blogger should know about the apocalypse. Talk To Action discusses Pat Roberson’s reversal about global climate change. Christian Alliance for Progress’ Community forum has a discussion about the GOPs cynical play around the rise in the minimum wage. Faith in Public Life has a multi-part conversation with bloggers about faith and politics, and other topics. Chuck, over at Cross Left, has an interesting take on scripture in public institutions.

technorati tags:progressive, faith, blogs, politics

Well, when I change a name, I really change a name!

Please change your bookmarks for this blog to: http://www.metacentricities.com

And the new feed is: http://www.metacentricities.com/index.rdf

The old URL and feed will work fine, but it would be great to use the new one.

Update: The old feed actually doesn’t work, it turns out. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Well, working with someone who had a visit by the naming fairy sure did help. The new title of the blog is meant to reflect both the varied kinds of things that I write about here, as well as the fact that I am very interested in the intersections of things, where things meet. And, it’s a cool word. Back to our regular programming…

I’ve finally done it. In a bit over a year, I’ve had more than 10,000 page views (actually, it now stands at 10,172.) Somehow, that feels like somewhat of a milestone. I still enjoy writing the blog, and still feel gratified when I hear that someone reads it, and likes what I write, so I’ll hope for another 10,000 this coming year.

However, since I came back from a conference full of bloggers, I’m feeling a bit of name envy, to be completely honest. For those of you that don’t know the history of the name of this blog, I might as well tell it. My middle name is Pearl, named after my father’s mother, who I never met, because she died before I was born. Sometime along the way in my spiritual explorations, I gained an animal familiar, the bear. Five gazillion internet years ago, before AOL was connected to the internet (I think this was 1992 or 1993), I needed to come up with a screen name for my new AOL account. Pearlbear it was. That long ago discarded screen name has followed me in many internet contexts. I’ve used it as an email address now and again, I’ve used it in varied bulletin boards, it’s my IRC nick, and, when it came time to start a blog, since I started the blog out as semi-anonymous (it stopped being that very soon after I started) it seemed appropriate to name it "Pearlbear’s Blog."

The real truth of the matter is that the naming fairy skipped right over my house when she was giving out the gift of clever naming. Clearly, Hoarded Ordinaries, Islamicate, Xpatriated Texan, and Velveteen Rabbi, and my friend Trailer Full of Tunes, to name just a very few, got the gift that I didn’t. But, I have decided that if I’m going to be a serious blogger, this blog needs a new name.

I have already renamed my "Ministry Blog" "The Contemplative and Mystic" (see, really, the naming fairy just skipped right over me!) But I need a new name for this one. I’m still mulling it over, but if you have any suggestions, feel free to comment (or send them along in email if you’re shy.)

I wanted to both wrap up my own feelings about the Blog Con, and also link to some other blogs that have summarized their experiences. It was a really great weekend. It was nice meeting so many people I’d emailed, phoned, or just read their blogs. It was nice to put faces and three-dimensional personalities to the blogs I’ve been reading, some over the course of more than a year.

The con was a really interesting, and I think, compelling combination of experiences and discussions of both faith and politics. Some of the participants seemed more oriented toward politics, some more oriented toward faith, but there was no conflict - we discussed both in depth, and also there were the four worship experiences, which were powerful (and, as Rabbi Arthur said, something you are not supposed to do in an interfaith setting.)

We came to an understanding, I think, of the ways in which we can be unified, while still being diverse, and focused on different aspects of the same larger questions. We expect to meet again next year, possibly on the west coast. I said that it was possible that a certain institution that I am a part of would be happy to host this sort of thing, given their focus on progressive faith, and interest the blogosphere (president of said institution is known to read this blog - hint, hint.) We also had some ideas for how to move our community of progressive faith bloggers forward. Stay tuned for more info on that.

I want to publicly thank everyone who was at all involved in making the blog con happen, and everyone who was there, who made it a great experience.

Here are some summary comments from participants:

Shanta, of the National Council of Churches (who I unfortunately did not get to meet,) talks briefly about his experience. Velveteen Rabbi has a great set of links to go through for comments and summaries of the events. Rabbi Jill Jacobs has a wrap up on JSpot. Mata H, one of my Christian worship compatriots, has this wrap up. Islam O. Yankee, of Islamicate, gives his thanks. Check the Progressive Faith Blog Con site for more wrap and ongoing posts on what’s happened because of the con.

technorati tags:progfaithblogcon

Chris Tessone (Even the Devils Believe,) Mata H (Time’s Fool,) Bruce Prescott (Mainstream Baptist) and I put together and led a Sunday Christian worship service for the blog con. The order of service is available in PDF format, and I’ve just posted the sermon on my Ministry Blog.

It was a really wonderful experience. Chris was stuck in Paris (poor guy) and so Bruce bravely and wonderfully took over being the celebrant for Eucharist. It was an amazing combination of traditions, from Chris’ Independent Catholic, Mata H’s Lutheran, my UCC/MCC combo, and Bruce’s Baptist. It was almost the complete range from high to low church. We did the service in a circle, and the intention was to have it as open to all faith traditions as possible. And, from some comments we’ve gotten, it worked well.

It was wonderful designing and leading a worship service in a truly interfaith context. I hope to be able to do it again sometime.

technorati tags:progfaithblogcon