It's a type of angst . . . the problem is I just don't know where I'm going with this thing . . .
I asked one of my confidants, one of the Gurus of the BlogoSphere: "Am I getting enough site visits? I'm averaging over 2500 a day - is that a lot?"
I was told; "2500 is a fabulous number for a personal site: the typical blog numbers its readers in the hundreds. You don't become a business though until you pass the 100,000 mark however."
That explains why I don't have an entourage . . .
. . . like Gwen Stefani and her posse of demented female ninja . . .I peaked over 4200 site visits one day last week.
People are reading my great thoughts.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a great writer, like the great Hemingway:
The problem was, I didn't feel I had anything great to write about.
So I went out and had all these Hemingway-esque adventures. Now I don't want to write about them because I don't want to come off sounding like Hemingway; some kind of a chest-beating self-aggrandizer.
I felt I would become a philosopher.
Then this Irishman in a bar laughed at me; "A PHILOSOPHER? That's for the old men with the grey beards. You're a young whippersnapper, you should be out LIVING your life, not PHILOSOPHIZING about it!"
This pure Irish wisdom fell right in line with my Zen training, so I went out and lived in the Eternal Now.
The trouble with living in the Eternal Now is it leaves no room for philosophizing . . .. . . these are some of the dilemmas I struggle with . . .
* * *
Earlier on I mentioned I've been getting these weird emails, and now they're starting to show up in comments. They all follow the same general line of dialogue, and they are all in broken English:
Hello friend
Your Site is very much interesting.
I am regular reader of your blog. I follow your blog. I am able to get all the informations from links in your blog as well as by following external links from your blog.
I like your way of posting. I Have added http://seanlinnane.blogspot.com/ in my blog http://_____________.blogspot.com/ . I am honored to add it to My Friend's Blogroll section.
So if you could provide me a link to my blog, it will be much more useful for users.
Hope you would add my blog in your blog. I would certainly appreciate a link from your blog.
My URL: http://__________.blogspot.com/
Thanks for visiting my blog as well! Please reply friend
Regards
Sheldon
WEIRD. Then this, from yesterday's comments (beneath the Monday Mystery Bird) . . .
"Hi there! Remember me?" . . . some dude named Lawrence writes:
"Great Great Great Blog
Your blog is so excellent. I am your regular reader of your blog. I follow your blog. I like your way of posting. Hey i am interesting in adding your in my blog
http://nappilesbyan.blogspot.com/
I am honored to add it to my blog in right side bar links. Will you add my blog in your blog list
Thanks for visiting my blog as well!
Please reply dear"
"DEAR ? ! ? ! ?"
This one's from some bird called Kristen:
Dear Friend,
I am really proud to have your blog http://seanlinnane.blogspot.com/ in my blog sidebar.
I could see your website nice and with good information for the people, and this attracts me to add your blog in my blog named http://_________.blogspot.com/.
My best friendship quote “Yesterday brought the beginning, tomorrow brings the end, and somewhere in the middle we became the best of friends” Hope you would add my blog. Thanks a lot. Keep blogging . . . Love your blog and you are added :) Keep up the good work and thanks for the kinds words.
-- Kristen
Thanks for the opportunity. Thanks
I actually went to her blogsite - its dedicated to all things Outer Space; NASA, astronomy, the International Space Station, Project Apollo, the Space Shuttle, distant galaxies . . .
. . . did I mention Space?
The woman is OBSESSED with rocketry. These messages are creepy because of their similarity, and the broken English is what really gets my radar going.
I tell you what: yYou weird furreigners want a link exchange? Here's the deal: this is Blog STORMBRINGER. Languages spoken here include French, Spanish, Thai, Hebrew, Arabic AND English . . .
. . . THE QUEEN's ENGLISH, that is.
We DON'T speak no BROKEN ENGLISH and we DON'T take the bait from scamsters who do. This is the Internet Era - what do you think we are, STOOPID???
* * *
My post on Lt. Col. WingNut generated several comments that all sounded a similar theme. Here are a couple choice quotes:
"We hung men 70 years ago who just followed orders. For this man, that history means something."
and
"The Numerberg Trials settled the question of whether a soldier should follow illegal orders. If the prez is illegal then wouldn't his orders be illegal too?"
Lemme see here - the man was sworn in my Justice Roberts - who with eight of his co-workers knows more about legal and illegal than all of us put together - and if there was a case to be heard about the mysterious origins of Barack the Magic Negro, you'd think it'd be investigated at that level.
WHATEVER . . . hundreds of thousands of American G.I.'s who take their oaths seriously just got equated to Hitler's Nazi goons . . . by a pack of scoundrels wrapping themselves in Patriotism . . .
Scenario:
"Hey Private! Mop and buff that floor!"
"No way, sergeant, I don't have to!"
"HUH?"
"The President of the United States was born in Kenya - so that's an illegal order. I don't have to follow it."
WHAT KIND OF A WAY IS THIS TO RUN A MILITARY???
I want you Birther guys to back up and look at where your line of reasoning leads; this is the same line of reasoning the Code Pink / MoveOn dot Org crowd was throwing out there about Bush - HE wasn't legally elected EITHER . . . REMEMBER ? ? ?
So, what? - are we supposed to have half the military go into a state of mutiny every four to eight years just because they don't like the outcome of an election? There are countries where that is the norm, and I have served in several of them. They are called Banana Republics - and they are HELL ON EARTH.
Now stop and think . . . is that what you want the United States of America to look like? Because that is where this sort of mindset leads - Barack Obama is playing you like a cheap violin, and you are enabling him right along to his ultimate objective: to destroy the greatest country in the history of the world, cut us down to size and make us pay for being the "oppressor" nation to all the Third World little guys out there.
Always remember - the American Revolution is an eternal revolution - true - but it is also an INternal revolution.
We will prevail - we always do - but we won't prevail by advocating mutiny and the chaos and disruption that will bring. That is not what Blog STORMBRINGER is all about, and that is NOT what the Tea Party Movement is all about, either. There are some important elections coming up, and we are going to run the Obama crowd out of town on a rail . . .
"If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs . . ."
- SEAN LINNANE SENDS
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Dear Sean,
ReplyDelete"Everyones want a famous legacy to leave behind." It is possible these people are just fame seekers who cannot get their blog off the ground due to lack of meaningful content.
How many people have experience like yours? How many real snakeaters are really out there?
The more links you have on remote sites, the higher priority you have on search engine spider databases. The higher priority you have the higher your relevance on search engine returns. In essence, they are not out to scam you for money, but they are scamming you for gain. If their link dimities you it is a form of stealing from you...check them out before you trade links...never link to a site that is unworthy of your standard. Always trade links with anyone whom you aspire to. Links are business, business is money. The only question is who is getting the benifit? If it is not mutual, someone is getting ripped off.
Sean, That Gadsden flag says it all.
ReplyDeleteSince you quoted me Sean, I think it worth responding with this, I am not a "birther" any more than you are not a "non-birther" whatever the hell those terms mean.
ReplyDeleteI am decidedly agnostic on the issue of POTUS birth because, oddly, unlike every other American alive today, the records of his birth are not public record, or at least not available for review.
If indeed you took the same oath that I did, the one that all American soldiers have taken, essentially unchanged, since before the Constitution was ratified you will note that the PRIMARY mission of the American Soldier is the defense of the Constitution from all powers both foreign and domestic.
Now in as much as I am about to do my 3rd tour of Iraq, and I have as much to lose in this deal as any time in the pat principally because victory has been declared and by golly we are getting out, Iran and AQ Iraq be damned, the fall of Saigon not withstanding...
I think my position that the reality is that most soldiers will continue to do their duty as agnostics and that perhaps we ought to consider again, that this doctor is putting it all on the line. He has served his nation, he has every reason to be a good little bureaucrat, retire at 20 and collect a good pension and he has been decorated for his combat service.
Is it too much to withhold judgement on the man's claim until the case is decided and the facts are weighed.
Having been there and done that, having been witness to the collosal "F-up" that was the public affairs response to Pat Tillman's death, you of all people should know that sometimes leadership, including presumably the SCOTUS, cannot always be trusted to do the right thing. Especially when politics and pressures and the weight of the ramifications of the removal of a sitting (minority) president under grounds that have been vilified as archaic if not completely forgotten by the vast majority of Americans, are sitting square in their laps.
Unlike some, I do not trust my government. I am a soldier in part because I believe that we are the last defense of the People against tyranny and yet, in spite of our ONLY prescribed mission I can never get anyone from 2LT to MG (I've not yet asked LTG or higher yet) what "domestic threats to the Constitution" mean and what our response should be.
So fall into whatever camp you will, criticize the position of the agnostics who simply wonder, why won't basic leadership skills prevail and a sitting CinC go the mile to show his command that he is bonafide. Does it take so much humility to do so?
Hell I don't know, since as a senior officer I find that I have to humble myself every day in order to gain the trust of my charge. Leadership is about service, Petraeus himself, told me that once and you know what, there is no better way to serve than to legitimize clearly your credentials to lead; through action and deed.
Cut the Doc some slack, he may be Don Quioxte but it is his windmill battle, all we are called upon to do is show enough loyalty to at minimum wish him Godspeed in his folly.
I think that the girl in the photo is wonderful, I would like to have the chance of get more photos of her, I really enjoyed your blog !
ReplyDelete