Forward Biased (Less-than-current Events)

Wonders Never Cease...!

I'm actually back...kind of, but back I am.

Firstly I must apologize for my abrupt disappearance—I surely could have, and should have, handled that better, mainly by letting you loyal readers know what was going on.

Suffice it to say that it was a combination of health issues (I don't like to complain about things, so just know that I have some serious health issues that ended up making blogging a bit more than I could handle.  As many bloggers will tell you, it's a full-time job when you consider all the research time that goes into every post, the careful consideration of my opinion so that I don't just blow off at the mouth (well not that much) but at least make an attempt at posting a well-reasoned essay on whatever topic is at hand.

Anyway, first and foremost, two major changes are in store for this blog.

1)  I will not be posting nearly as often as before.

2)  (This one is the biggie)-- The primary focus of this blog will change from current events to technology, primarily electronics, and primarily designs and projects that I am working on.

I realize that this pretty much leaves most of you out in the cold,  which is why I agonized and carefully considered all of the consequences  of this change.   Of course, I'll doubtless make the occasional post about something that's on my mind, etc., and you folks still have the freedom to suggest topics for posting a Forward Biased  viewpoint, but I'll be posting much less often, depending on several factors that affect my ability to post, or sometimes to post with any remote semblance of higher brain functions, reason, not sounding like I've completely lost my mind, that sort of thing.

As soon as I can figure out how to do it, I'm going to divide this blog into two sections, both accessible by the address Forwardbiased.com, because I think that's the perfect name for an electronics blog.

Well, that's all for now.  To all of you, I'm truly grateful for your readership, and I again apologize for just dropping off the face of the earth like I did.

More later.

— Obi-Wan

Hang on, folks...

I'm running a tad behind with the Carnival of the Vanities, which I had hoped to post by midnight last night (yeah, right).

It's coming real soon now.  Honest.  Over forty entries, too, not to mention enough blather from me to last, oh, ten minutes at least.

Welcoming a new co-blogger

Folks, I'd like to give an officially warm welcome to DaveG, regular reader and commenter, who is going to be guest-blogging here at Forward Biased, which I expect will help us to become even more, well, forward biased.

Not only will this help improve the blog by adding his point of view (except when he disagrees with me, of course—well, ok, just kidding), but this will be an excellent "safety net" for when I am unable to blog for any reason, such as power outage, computer problems, or health reasons.  I just believe that it's not good that only one person had access to posting here, as my absence always meant that FB went dormant.

We'll be adding other guest bloggers as time goes by, depending on factors such as whether I can talk them into agreeing to try it, their point of view, whether they've bribed me enough, you know, that sort of thing.  Hey, this place don't come cheap (rubbing fingers together).  Got cash?

(Ahem.)  Well, ok, no bribery is involved, although contributions will be gleefully accepted.  And I'll name something after you, or something.  "The John Doe Sidebar"—has a nice ring to it, eh?  And maybe I'll even let you guest blog; who knows?

Oh—and yes, we're still working on the new blog (in the MuNu Community; see blogroll in left sidebar), which will have all-new graphics (thanks to Official First Known Regular Reader™ Rob), and everything else that comes with using Movable Type.  Unfortunately, that also means that I have to learn to use Movable Type, and that's the part that's kinda slow.  Typepad is an almost completely graphic interface, quick and easy, and MT is an almost completely manually-coded thing, slow and cumbersome at first (but quite versatile!).

Want to encourage us all a whole lot?  Visit the one of the li'l ol' tipjars in the left sidebar, or visit our affiliate Wicked Lasers (you will be astounded).  (And this is the last time I'll mention those for a while.)

UPDATE:  Dave will be posting under the nym "Hogarth."

"State of the weblog" address

Alright.  Back on 21 Jan I said that I haven't quit blogging, in spite of the appearance that I had, and that I would try to keep from going for so long again without posting.  Then, after posting daily for every bit of six days, I lapsed yet again for about two weeks.

First of all, I deeply appreciate the fact that many of you are faithfully visiting every day just to see if I've posted anything, a fact that is amazing to me.  Thanks much.  And a few of you have been emailing and asking me what was up, something that I also appreciate.

I also seem to remember mentioning somewhere that it's pretty obvious that I need a back-up mechanism for those occasions when I can't keep up with things here, so I did ask several people whether they would consider taking a position as co-blogger.  In addition, a few others came right out and volunteered.  After several people said that, yes, they would indeed like to do so, only then did I discover that Typepad would let me add only two additional authors to this blog (leave it to me to overlook something like that until it's too late), which leaves me in the awkward position of now having to choose two people to add now and ask everyone else to wait until I make the transition to Movable Type, at which time I can presumably have as many co-authors as I like.  I'm going to make my short term decision of two co-authors based, not on who I think will be the best (how can I know that?) but rather on who I think would probably add the most diversity of style and topic matter while keeping within the general character of what Forward Biased has become (and what I would like it to be), posting policies, that sort of thing.  I'll announce who those folks are shortly, after having determined whether they still want to do this.

In addition, having a few co-authors will benefit this site in more ways than merely taking up the slack when I slack off.  I want FB to become a better place than it is, and I think adding a few co-bloggers is one good way to do that.

Now, as to why I've had difficulty lately posting regularly, it's in large part because this blog has accomplished one of the major goals I had in mind when I began it, namely, to help me round out my life, sharpen my mind (no smart remarks from the back, now), and add back some of the diversity that normal, healthy people have in their daily routines.  For reasons of poor health, my life had become a terribly dull, predictably plodding routine prior to June of 2005, and my hope was that blogging would help me to break out of that rut.

Indeed, the last five or six weeks have seen me not only become more responsible and regular in my daily life, but my daily activities have become much more diversified, and I've gone back to doing some of the things I used to love to do years ago.  While this is exactly what I wanted to happen, it had the ironic side effect (in the short term) of causing me to not be able to blog as often, at least until I built up my stamina and ability to stay busy all day without getting worn out.

Also, I had let my failure to keep up with things here become a worry to me to the point that I was feeling obligated to try to blog, something that almost always results in poor posting.  And as I recall, almost all bloggers who have either retired or seriously considered retiring did so for one primary reason:  that blogging had become more of a "duty" than a pleasure.  Realizing that I was beginning to view blogging as an obligation was  quite a shock, and I realized that this was NOT what I wanted to happen.  Even if I become quite busy doing other things, I have no intention of letting this blog fall by the wayside.  I enjoy it too much, and in a small way, I'm also kind of proud of what small accomplishment I've made here.  The blogosphere is a huge place, and for someone unknown like me to come along and make a small but non-trivial impact is something that brings me no small amount of satisfaction.  I have no intention of throwing all that away after only eight months or so.

So look for a few changes to occur here in the next week or so, mainly the addition of a couple of new writers, and then, as soon as I can make it happen, FB will get a whole new look when I move over to Movable Type and the MuNu community.

Thanks again, everyone!

A tiny little milestone

Please forgive this post, as it's pretty much all about me.  Mostly.  Except to the extent that it's about, well, you.

At about 12:45 PM Eastern Time today, Forward Biased received its 10,000^th site visit.  Checking my refers, I can't tell where it came from, but it's still quite a milestone.  (Sitemeter ignores all visits from my own computer.)

I have no idea who you were, Mr./Mrs./Ms. 10,000, but I tip my hat to you.  I remember when I got my 100^th visit, and my 1000^th.  I knew I'd get 10,000 before the end of the year, but it's still a very cool thing to happen.

On the other hand, having been offline for a week has killed my daily averages, but that's to be expected.  No worries.

Thanks to all of you, not just the 10,000^th.  You are why I write!

UPDATE:  Turns out it was Phoenix!

I'm still alive

Sorry, folks.  I'm still here, and everything is still basically fine—especially after about 6:00 this morning.  For the week before that, though, we have been completely without power.

You may have noticed a few stories about a huge ice storm that just hit the Southeast (the worst in ten years, some say).  Well, about 7:00 last Tuesday morning our lights went out, and that was that.  Yes, a few times I planned to try to get some computer time at a local library just to let y'all know I was still kicking, but either the library was also without power or other, more important issues came up and I just never could do that.

So, anyway, I apologize for suddenly disappearing off the face of the net like that.  I'm going to make sure that, next time, someone else out there knows how to contact me when I don't have computer access.

After I get a few emergency issues, i.e. repairs, completed, I'll start posting again.  I was starting to go into serious blogging-withdrawal!

Whew...!

I'm back.

Seriously, we've GOT to get a more reliable computer around here.  First I lost my internet connection for no reason I could discern, then, when I decided it was time (again) to reinstall Windows clean, I almost couldn't get it to reinstall.  (This time I've made a Ghost^® disk image of Windows, plus updates, plus my usual setup choices, fonts, etc., plus basic software, so that next time I have to do this it won't take as long.  I hope.)

Anyway, sorry for going incommunicado for so long, folks.

This next post was actually written and saved as a draft awaiting a final proofing or two when my computer died, so that's the next order of business.

Sorry about that, chief...

No, I'm not posting about the late, great Don Adams.  Would you believe I'm just making an excuse for why I haven't posted much lately?

Commenters have been keeping me busy responding to comments, especially here—there are twenty-two comments already, and we're nowhere near done.  I've been writing several times as much there as on the front page.  Sorry about that, folks.

I have to say, Rob's doing an excellent job of debating with me.  He's definitely making me think a lot, and work even more.  I've decided that in order to win any debate, I'll have to somehow work in the Schwarzchild radius (so that my opponent collapses under the sheer weight of my argument) and quantum superposition—no, wait; that would mean that I'd both win and lose the debate at the same time.  Dang.  Ok, I'll use the Planck constant instead.  That always works, right?

Anyway, if you want more of that good ol' Forward Biased reading, check out the recent comments threads.

A new milestone!

Just one more little administrative thing.

I've passed yet another Great Milestone in my Blogging Career, namely, that the comment spammers have now discovered Forward Biased.  Yay, rah.

The funny thing is that they spammed some very old threads that nobody is going to read.  Sheesh.  And since I'm notified of all comments by email, it's easy for me to delete them.  And Typepad has a few ways to keep them from filling up the thread.

Anyway, I don't yet know if there's an easy way to close off all comments on all my old threads except by doing it manually, one at a time.  I'll try to find out.

Anyway, from now on I guess I'll need to close comments after, oh, a couple of weeks or so.  We'll see.

The 2005 Weblog Awards

Well, folks, I guess I'm going to have to address this issue, since two readers have now informed me that I've been nominated for a 2005 Weblog Award (do we call these the "Bloggies?") in the category Best New Blog.

I'm obviously quite honored and grateful.  Also humbled.  Many thanks.  I didn't even know there were weblog awards until then.  (Since Wizbang linked to them, I suppose everyone but me knew about it.  Yeah, sure I read Wizbang, but not every day.)

There's just one little problem.  Michael Yon is also nominated in the same category, and I obviously cannot, in good conscience, compete with him.  There's just no comparison to be made.

There's also the fact that, of all the weblogs nominated, there will be only 15 or so selected as finalists in each category to be voted on after Dec. first.  I probably won't make the cut, but even if I do, I plan to vote for Michael, and I encourage everyone who reads this to consider doing the same thing.

There is, however...(ahem)...one other thing.

Just to make sure that some of the lesser-read weblogs get to participate, there are a few "throwaway" categories based on the (perhaps infamous) "Ecosystem," and in the category of Best of the Top 1751-2500 Blogs, I was nominated there, too.  (I had recently made it up to about #1470, but these were based on standings as of last Nov. 18, and there have recently been some changes to how the Ecosystem works.  I've been considerably "demoted" in the last week, as have thousands of others.)

Looking over the other nominees, there are some great blogs there, but I don't suppose I'd mind a vote or two in that category—IF I make the finalist cut, of course.  I suppose we'll know tomorrow.

Thanks again to whoever nominated me.