51.

Well, I am back from a short trip to the Ozarks, which was absolutely lovely. Just too short. I always find I am not ready to return home from there.

In any case, my absence from my blog the last few days marked the end of fifty-one days of continuous posting on my blog. As far as I know, that is the longest continuous span of posting I have ever achieved and certainly the longest in recent years, when my posting here has been rather sporadic.

I wanted to do that for two reasons. First, I think the discipline of daily posting makes one think creatively about what can be posted and avoid turning a blog into a place for only highly polished pieces seemingly better fit to an online publication (like OFB). Second, after seeing a number of my favorite blogs from years past essentially dry up, I wanted to shore up my own commitment to the medium of blogging.

While the continuous posting has been broken, I am going to try to keep up daily posting more often in the future. I think its a habit that is actually constructive.

Sea Salt

My friend Dennis Powell writes:

I don’t mean to be cranky here. Please forgive me if I think it’s a little nutty that the phrase “with sea salt” is considered good when that phrase might mean “contains fish poop.”

When you put it that way…

Established Church

The Financial Times has an interesting piece on the Archbishop of Canterbury, which touches on the question of whether the Anglican Church is helped or hurt by being established:

Some of his colleagues were appalled when he raised the issue of disestablishment 18 months ago. This would give in “to a widespread and ignorant view that the Christian faith has nothing to contribute to public life”, fulminated Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester. Yet, might it be that separating church and state is a route back to the public square?

WashPo on Lack of Black Panther Story Coverage

The intimidation of voters in Philadelphia during the 2008 presidential election by the “New Black Panther Party” drew some attention at the time, but has become a firestorm since the Obama Administration decided to essentially drop all meaningful charges just as they were about to win the case. The Washington Post ombudsman has an interesting piece on WashPo's lack of coverage related to the case.

National Editor Kevin Merida, who termed the controversy “significant,” said he wished The Post had written about it sooner. The delay was a result of limited staffing and a heavy volume of other news on the Justice Department beat, he said.

Better late than never. There's plenty left to explore.

True. Better get exploring.

Love the Ads

Seen in an iTunes Store customer review of the Weather Channel app for iPad, which was a pretty good app at first, but has become extremely slow — brew-a-pot-of-coffee-while-it-loads slow — since the company went crazy plastering ads all over it:

Love the ads!
by sfiske

Is there a way that you can put even more ads into this app? As of now, I can still manage to get a little weather information around all of the ads…

The iPhone 4 Antenna Song

Apple showed this video from YouTube today at the iPhone 4 Antenna Q&A. Classic.

If This is What the Senate Does...

And it is, no wonder our country is in trouble. From Sen. Schumer's letter to Apple:

But Consumer Reports disputed that explanation on Monday. In a review posted on the organization’s website, researchers with Consumer Reports said they would not recommend the product for purchase. The magazine said it found that the antenna was in fact the culprit behind the drop-off in the phone’s reception. It said a design flaw was responsible for the glitch.

Interestingly, Schumer was not nearly as concerned that Consumer Reports announced its “non recommendation” of the iPhone 4 while also giving the iPhone 4 the highest rating it gave to any phone. Maybe he should call on CR to “reconcile the competing claims” the magazine put out, too.

Bye-Bye Bing Cashback

Bing Cashback (previously “Windows Live Cashback”) has been one of my consistent favorite things Microsoft puts out. It actually worked simply and well. Basically, you found the product you were looking for via Bing's shopping site (or at least found the merchant you wanted there) and Bing paid you a portion of the cut they got from the merchant.

Sadly, Cashback is coming to an end:

We are writing to notify you that the Bing cashback program will be discontinued, and the last day to earn cash back on your Bing Shopping purchases will be July 30, 2010.

Thomas Tweets

Somebody has decided to tweet an abridged Summa Theologica. Maybe Twitter will prove worthwhile yet.

Free Amazon Prime for Students

Amazon is giving away (affiliate link) a free year of Amazon Prime unlimited, no extra charge two day shipping to students at a college or grad school. If you are taking at least one class for credit, you qualify.

I signed up and Amazon was nice enough to offer a prorated refund for the remaining months in my regular Amazon Prime subscription.