tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-374918652024-03-07T13:11:06.223-05:00Thou and Thou OnlyRiches we heed not, nor man's empty praise.<br><br>
This blog belongs to the family of JunkMale, a Christian and Georgia Tech alumnus. Target demographics might include conservative Christian, healthy-eating, homeschooling, interracial families, and others who do not call this world "home." Where homemade is usually better than store-bought. For more info, click the "About" link below.Harmonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105846442509828835noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-52352423299573846012008-10-29T07:48:00.003-04:002008-10-29T08:00:43.350-04:00A New EpithetHenceforth, any reference to the mere man known as "Barack Obama" will be replaced with the new epithet <b>Our Great Leader Comrade Obama (hope be upon him)</b>. That way, maybe this blog will survive the coming revolution.<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.andthensome.nl/wp-content/images/2007/01/360344225_21ab62e2dd.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px; height: 333px;" src="http://blog.andthensome.nl/wp-content/images/2007/01/360344225_21ab62e2dd.jpg" border="0" alt="North Korean propaganda from someone else's page" /></a><br /><br />Maybe I will go back and revise any past references I have made to Our Great Leader Comrade Obama (hope be upon him). Revision of history is a key component of political revolutions. You dissenters better do the same, or you might be subject to "re-education." Failing re-education, you will be subject to elimination.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-78146733768754740882008-08-15T08:37:00.001-04:002008-08-15T08:42:01.567-04:00New Feature: Post Reactions(Note: for those of you subscribing to this blog, you'll have to actually come to the blog to see this feature, I think)<br /><br />At the bottom of the post, you will see reaction buttons. This is a new feature of <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/home">Blogger In Draft.</a> The function should be fairly obvious. If you think the post fits any of descriptions in the buttons, click on the appropriate one(s).<br /><br />I'm not exactly thrilled about the formatting (plus it adds to the clutter), but maybe I'll have more options once it gets out of draft.<br /><br />And as for you, click away, if you feel so inclined. Maybe this will elicit more feedback than the Skribit box did.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-88806121866732521362008-07-19T06:32:00.004-04:002008-12-09T17:09:40.029-05:00Hooray, 20000th VisitorHooray for our blog's 20,000th hit! This is a rather small number compared to some of the blogging giants or minor giants, who get that many hits in a number of days. But for our humble blog...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SIHDLjj4WCI/AAAAAAAAAr4/QR3DfVC7zYA/s1600-h/20000.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SIHDLjj4WCI/AAAAAAAAAr4/QR3DfVC7zYA/s400/20000.jpg" border="0" alt="20000th hit"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224671646018197538" /></a><br /><br />Whoever it is came really early in the morning, from The Common Room, via Verizon, and only looked at one page and left :P Come on, Mr. Verizon, you could've at least stayed a while, since you were number 20,000 ;)JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-30780199576607880862008-05-10T10:00:00.003-04:002008-12-09T17:09:48.217-05:00How I Made the Tab Link/Nav Bar<a href="http://smockityfrocks.blogspot.com/" target="new" title="Smockity Frocks">Mrs. SmockityFrocks</a> asks in my latest <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2008/05/your-critique-on-layout-please.html">soliciting-opinions post</a> how I did the tab link/navigation bar right above the main post body. Well, I will tell you that I am no HTML / CSS expert, so I give the disclaimer that my method is neither slick nor pretty, but it worked for this blog. Hopefully it will work after a bit of effort, if anyone ever tries to implement it (you know who you are, Mrs. SmockityFrocks!).<br /><br />When you begin, the top of your main post will look something like this:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SCS-vv5JQ9I/AAAAAAAAAk8/8-RPZJUgf20/s1600-h/tutorial1.png" target="new"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SCS-vv5JQ9I/AAAAAAAAAk8/8-RPZJUgf20/s400/tutorial1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198489597411673042" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Make sure to back up your template before you mess things up! Then, go to Layout, then Edit HTML. (BTW, I suggest making a test design blog to be your guinea pig)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SCTYDf5JRCI/AAAAAAAAAlk/-Zl7p7G4AlQ/s1600-h/tutorial2.png" target="new"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SCTYDf5JRCI/AAAAAAAAAlk/-Zl7p7G4AlQ/s400/tutorial2.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198517424504783906" /></a><br /><br />Depending on what template you're using, you should see something that resembles this. I inserted the HTML right between the main-wrap1 and main-wrap2 opening tags. For other templates, this might translate to putting the HTML right after your first main wrapper div tag.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Ln9g1IQEpf1BCU3BTDf7g7wb5PyLuSjrAjlOfqb0R88ZLxYVRZmQLn_sPiRyii4z9mcW_SeYL09dTD3aXl18GoErj9_cHP2e6WObQ8qN1GE_alENvUr8lwQ9RwXSzbfMqR0klg/s1600-h/tutorial3.png" target="new"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Ln9g1IQEpf1BCU3BTDf7g7wb5PyLuSjrAjlOfqb0R88ZLxYVRZmQLn_sPiRyii4z9mcW_SeYL09dTD3aXl18GoErj9_cHP2e6WObQ8qN1GE_alENvUr8lwQ9RwXSzbfMqR0klg/s400/tutorial3.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198517433094718514" /></a><br /><br />This is the HTML that you insert:<br /><span style="font-size:95%;"><code><div style='background-color:#<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">XXXXXX</span>;'><div align='center'><div style='background-color:#<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">XXXXXX</span>; width:<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">XXXX</span>px;'><div style='background:url('http://<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">LOCATION OF IMG</span>');'><br /><a href='http://<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">YOURBLOGNAME</span>.blogspot.com/' title='Home'>Home</a> | <a href='about-this-blog.html' target='new' title='About This Blog'>About</a><br /></div></div></div></div></code></span><br /><br />What we're doing here is manually creating a section right above the main post body, sort of like what I've highlighted in the picture below.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SCTVCf5JRBI/AAAAAAAAAlc/hlcQR1Nm4MY/s1600-h/tutorial6.png" target="new"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SCTVCf5JRBI/AAAAAAAAAlc/hlcQR1Nm4MY/s400/tutorial6.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198514108790031378" /></a><br /><br />The width of this new section defaults to the width of your post body. I believe the height is defined by whatever you put in there, so if your font's height is 10 pixels, then the box height will be slightly more than 10 pixels. <br /><br /><ul><li>The <u>first</u> <div> tag sets the background color of the box. I couldn't figure out how to tell it to be transparent. This might not work well if you have a tiled image as your blog background. My background is an approximation of an Old Gold (Go Tech!) flat background, so I just set the first <div> to #ffcc66.</li><br /><li>The <u>third</u> <div> is to set the background of the actual "tab" itself, along with the width of the tab. This is white (#ffffff) on my blog. </li><br /><li>The <u>fourth</u> <div> tag sets the background image, which I use to round off the corners. <a href="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee166/junkm4le/about_tab.gif" target="new">">Here is mine</a>, so you can have an idea of what I'm talking about. If you are going to round off the corners like I did, it is important that the width of the image be the same as the width that you set in the third <div> tag. You'll have to host the image somewhere; I use <a href="http://www.photobucket.com" title="PhotoBucket" target="new">PhotoBucket</a></li><br /><li>Obviously you can add more links to the "tab" bar. You will have to adjust your background image and width in the 3rd <div> tag if you do so.</ul><br /><br />So then we are left with something like this:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglFKwz6vcU5rR_-Fdom-2g3oKbgMe_A5YqGi1sfCZO5EtbdNSrGD-b4v6XN0SxikJo1KzJqhQAZ47w7QpSfhXVhf46DIQNQImlvj4BLnJus5vg04xN9QziawK8FD7hOQ2F24CDHw/s1600-h/tutorial4.png" target="new"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglFKwz6vcU5rR_-Fdom-2g3oKbgMe_A5YqGi1sfCZO5EtbdNSrGD-b4v6XN0SxikJo1KzJqhQAZ47w7QpSfhXVhf46DIQNQImlvj4BLnJus5vg04xN9QziawK8FD7hOQ2F24CDHw/s400/tutorial4.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198502185960817666" /></a><br /><br />The problem is, now the tops of the sidebars and the main post body don't match up. If you don't care about the alignment, then you don't need to worry. But if you want the tops of both the sidebars and main body to line up, you'll have to adjust the "margin" property in your CSS template for your sidebars. I did some thinking to save you the effort: first, figure out how much separation you want between the header and the tab (say, 10 pixels). Then find out how tall your tab background image is (mine's 21 pixels). So then set your sidebar top margins to be 21 + 10 pixels = 31 pixels. That did it for me.<br /><br />A few additional notes:<br />1) I have like less than 0 skills when it comes to image creation. I made my rounded tab images in Paint. You are free to steal the <a href="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee166/junkm4le/about_tab.gif" target="new">rounded tab image</a> from this blog and use it as a starting point, if you'd like.<br />2) If you'd like for the tab links to pop up in new windows, modify your link tag <a> to include the 'target' attribute. For example:<br /><code><a href="about.html" target="new"></code><br />3) Considering that there are plenty of other tutorials out there on how to do things like this, I do not expect a ton of people to have questions about this. So if you do run into problems, you can feel free to grill me about it.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-1189996320834514452008-05-09T08:43:00.001-04:002008-05-09T09:38:41.971-04:00Your Critique on the Layout, PleaseI've been changing things around again. For those of you reading from the RSS feed, you'll have to actually come to our blog to see what I've been up to.<br /><br />I have moved the subscription page and links to other blogs to the "tab" bar right above the main post body section. I moved the blog links because 1) I wanted to make room for the new Skribit widget, and 2) hardly anyone ever clicks on those links anyways. All the links in the "tab" bar except the "Home" link will automatically open in new browser windows. I say "tab" in quotes because they're not really tabs; they just look like them. <br /><br />Now, about the Skribit. This is a way for you, the reader, to hound me to write about something you've always wanted to know about us. I doubt many of you sit there wondering "What was JunkMale's childhood like?" or "What grade did JunkMale get in Quantum Mechanics I?" but in case you do, you can now suggest it. Other readers can then vote on your suggestion as well. I have enabled the Skribit box to take anonymous suggestions, so don't be shy! I will (of course) delete anything inappropriate or unconstructive. To write something in the box, click "What should I write about?"<br /><br />(of course, if no one ever uses it, then I'll remove it)<br /><br />Thinking aloud:<br /><ul><li>Although I liked the Recent Comments box where it was (right sidebar, top), I figured I should put the Skribit box in a highly visible location, since it's new.</li><br /><li>Was thinking about switching the "Best of.." and Recent Posts...maybe.</li><br /><li>I'd also like to find a way to increase the Recent Posts to more than 5. I've tried some different methods, but of the ones that worked, none preserved the formatting of sidebar links.</li><br /><li>Perhaps I should move the "Top Commenters" below Recent Comments, and move the Skribit box where the Top Commenters are now. That way everything comment-related is over there. But I still want the Skribit box to be highly visible.</li></ul><br /><br />What do you think? I would like to hear from any of you if you have suggestions on how to optimize my layout for you, the reader. If you have questions on any changes that I've made (i.e. "Wow I want to do that too!"), feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to help.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-54459104104154101102008-04-15T13:32:00.003-04:002008-04-15T13:46:23.706-04:00Useful Blog Traffic LinksHere are a couple of useful blog traffic links that I have found in the past couple of days:<br /><br />This page from <a href="http://www.bloggerbuster.com" target="newwindow2" title="Go to Blogger Buster">Blogger Buster</a> will let you see <a href="http://www.bloggerbuster.com/2007/10/check-your-backlinks-with-this-free.html" target="newwindow" title="Find links to your blog!">any page that has ever linked to your blog, ever</a>. I've noticed that with Wordpress blogs, the tool sort of goes crazy. You'll probably see what I mean.<br /><br />(BTW, for anyone that has a Blogger blog, I highly suggest subscribing to Blogger Buster, especially if you have any interest in making your blog bigger, better, and/or prettier. I also suggest reading <a href="http://www.bloggingtips.com/" target="newwindow4" title="Go to Blogging Tips">Blogging Tips</a>, for which the author of Blogger Buster occasionally writes.)<br /><br />This page, called <a href="http://www.xinureturns.com" target="newiwnd3" title="Xinu Returns - SEO Site Diagnosis Tool">Xinu Returns</a>, lets you see all sorts of useful information about your site/blog, including number of feed subscribers (we've had 5 more people subscribe in the past couple of days!), Google PageRank (only 3/10 for us), and more. For anyone who might not know, "SEO" stands for Search Engine Optimization, or "how to trick more people into visiting your blog."JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-34323438346707134632008-04-13T16:03:00.005-04:002008-12-09T17:09:52.864-05:00¡Viva la Revolución!My recent blog post on the similarities between <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2008/04/barack-channeling-che.html">Barack Hussein Obama posters and Che Guevara images</a> have generated a lot of visits to this blog. I posted that on the 5th of April, and a few days later, all these visits started pouring in. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUP5A1PUbxnZjz_LCD9MiePJSJKXIAo7IU3p35UKDAqOyAGJZxkD4JafVKacWdejCXitLksNHZQCrF1QMrBx0cd-_lKgX3hUpAS6m1NGlfTh3Cfp-FEIMxiHqOxVxIuaMM7-c4yA/s1600-h/last_months_visits.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUP5A1PUbxnZjz_LCD9MiePJSJKXIAo7IU3p35UKDAqOyAGJZxkD4JafVKacWdejCXitLksNHZQCrF1QMrBx0cd-_lKgX3hUpAS6m1NGlfTh3Cfp-FEIMxiHqOxVxIuaMM7-c4yA/s400/last_months_visits.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188824591277990082" /></a><br />(the previous 100+ visit day was the last time Harmony participated in Frugal Friday, hardly in the same vein.)<br /><br />Many of the visits stem from non-US Google queries. We've gone from averaging about 30 visits a day to about 70-80 per day. To some of you, that's the equivalent of one proton in a black hole (a.k.a. a drop in the cosmological bucket), but to us, that's a significant jump in traffic. I must say that I never expected images of Che Guevara to bring so many people here. Read more about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara" target="newwindow">Guevara at Wikipedia</a>.<br /><br />I suppose I should acknowledge where I got the image; it's from some Geocities socialist action website. Google it and it should be the first thing that pops up, if you really want to see where it came from. You can understand that I don't want to provide them with more links.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-90286414938383132662008-04-05T21:48:00.003-04:002008-04-05T21:58:17.892-04:00Memorable Posts Added to SidebarYou'll notice I added a "Best of" list to the left sidebar. Some are posts that I am particularly proud of (for whatever reason), and others are ones that got lots of comments. Whatever the case, I chose these posts because I felt these posts represent our blog quite well.<br /><br />A couple of you said that the new three column layout made it look crowded. Hopefully this doesn't make it look any much <i>more</i> crowded. Personally, I think the new section blends in quite well, and I might have missed it if I didn't know it were there. If you really don't like the layout, you can just read our blog in Google Reader all the time ;)<br /><br />These posts are subject to change without notice, so watch out!JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-73077860958062706752008-04-03T11:26:00.006-04:002008-04-03T12:03:54.051-04:00Your Opinions on Blog Design, PleaseI somehow fixed the problems from this morning. All is well, until I decide to go mess with the template again. I've been reading a lot of the articles on <a href="http://www.bloggingtips.com/" target="newwindow">BloggingTips.com</a> in order to try to optimize this blog's design. I moved the recent comments widget to the right, because I thought it made the blog look a bit crowded on the left. I don't think there's a good way to put that particular widget in, without making a blog look more cluttered. But I really like it and think it adds positively, so I am most likely going to keep it.<br /><br />How is this new look? Is it cluttered? Did you prefer the previous two column arrangement? Are three columns too messy? Or did I just do them wrong? I want opinions, people! Let's see them in the comments! Yes, you. I will give extra considerations to suggestions from 1) people who are even halfway into web design (hello Laura), or 2) people who have gigantic blogs. Even if you are totally ambivalent and couldn't care less about this little blog's design, that is still an opinion that I'd like to hear. <br /><br />For ease of soliciting opinions, I've added a poll. Feel free to explain yourself in the comments as well.<br /><br />Here are my thoughts right now. Starting from most-likely-to-do to least-likely:<br /><ul><li>Adding a "Best of" list on the left sidebar. This was one of the tips from the Blogging Tips post <a href="http://www.bloggingtips.com/2007/11/09/5-items-your-blog-sidebar-must-have/" target="newwindow2">5 items my sidebar must have</a>.</li><br /><li>Maybe going away from such an angular look? Currently this blog's favorite angle is 90 degrees. This would just involve some GIFs to round out the corners, since I'm not much of a designer.</li><br /><li>Replacing the current "Reruns and Leftovers" with a dropdown menu or otherwise smaller archives link. Does anyone ever click on these?</li><br /><li>Going back to two columns?</li></ul><br />Alright, well that wasn't such a big list. I thought there would be more. If you have any suggestions for a better reading experience, I want to know.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-75046501446853778692008-04-03T08:50:00.003-04:002008-04-03T09:28:20.335-04:00Please Excuse the MessI am aware that things look weird right now. Blogger has picked the greatest of times to have errors with its CSS template editor. I made changes, but I can't revert to an old version of our template. So for now, things will continue to look weird.<br /><br />EDIT 09:27 AM: I somehow got the gold background back. For a short time this morning, you might have seen a totally white background and bigger font. Still working on getting the left sidebar to have a white background.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-62872725312963981582008-04-02T12:13:00.002-04:002008-04-02T12:32:30.761-04:00Recent Comments, plus Minor Change(s)I added a Recent Comments widget to the sidebar. As the name implies, you can see what people have been saying in the comments, without having to click to each comment page. I got the widget at <a href="http://www.bloggerbuster.com/2007/08/create-your-oen-recent-comments-widgets.html" target="newwindow">this page</a>. <br /><br />It's very easy to add: just type in your full blog address (minus the "http://" part), adjust your options, click "Apply," then click the button next to it. Then you will be spit into your Blogger account if you were signed in in the first place, where you finally add it to your blog template. <br /><br />You can also adjust how many characters the widget shows. For example, our's shows the first 82 characters of the comment. This should be sufficient for a large portion of the first sentence, and then some. The default value is 100, but I thought that was a bit crowded. I think I like the placement as it currently is, but please let me know if you have any suggestions.<br /><br />I also adjusted the width of the main body text from 850 pixels to 900 pixels. I don't like it when main body width is so thin that it feels like you're reading off of a rapier blade :p Judging by Sitemeter's monitor resolution data for this blog, most of you have your resolutions at 1024x768, which should be fine for this blog (I checked it myself). I prefer 1280x1024 and use that on both work and home computers, but then again, I have young eyes.<br /><br />Let me know if anything on this blog looks crazy. Including the content itself ;)JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-35688931827411487892007-12-29T08:12:00.000-05:002008-12-09T17:10:03.392-05:00Visit 10000, and New Year's ResolutionThis is sort of old news, because it happened on December 26, but we had our 10000th blog visit! Unfortunately, it was a very nondescript visit and I have no idea how this person came to our blog. Anyways, if you (the 10000th visitor) ever happen to come here again, please leave a comment?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/R3ZIfOskZJI/AAAAAAAAAIc/mOJwMk-xqTE/s1600-h/tato10000.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/R3ZIfOskZJI/AAAAAAAAAIc/mOJwMk-xqTE/s400/tato10000.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149382925302916242" /></a><br /><br />I haven't made a New Year's Resolution in a while, but I'm making one this year. Look, blog readers, here and now I declare that I will attempt to drink less than or equal to 5 cans of soda in 2008. Earlier I thought that I might perhaps resolve to drink none, but even I consider that a bit of a tall order, considering the soda-drinking epidemic that grips this nation :p I might have actually fulfilled 2008's resolution in 2007, but I could be wrong, considering I wasn't keeping track. I remember drinking at least two cans of cherry coke at Harmony's parents' house, but I don't remember any other occasions.<br /><br />This resolution includes sodas bought from natural food stores or "diet" sodas (if you're on a diet, don't drink soda, or do so very sparingly).<br /><br />If I'm looking to space them evenly throughout the year, I will allow myself to have a soda in January, then approximately March, June, October, and December ;)JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-51023598360786912312007-10-25T13:48:00.001-04:002007-10-25T13:56:03.802-04:00Blogger Finally Getting With The TimesI noticed today that Blogger has finally decided to catch up with Wordpress (and perhaps others - I haven't investigated thoroughly) in the comment notification category. You no longer have to do <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2007/07/following-comment-threads_24.html" target="newwindow">all this</a> in order to follow comment threads. <br /><br />Instead, Blogger has added a convenient check box on the comment page, under the comment box. You no longer have to jump through hoops, subscribe to an RSS feed, or even have a Blogger account to see what other people are saying on comment threads (unless the blog doesn't allow anonymous comments). <br /><br />I haven't tested this function out yet, but it's about time. Is it just me, or does WordPress seem like it has so much more to offer than Blogger?JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-46254046996768106472007-10-12T07:13:00.000-04:002007-10-12T07:13:16.164-04:00Traffic To Our BlogIn an attempt to have a better blogging month than September, here's another metablog post. This one's about traffic to our blog.<br /><br />I'm proud to say that we are a Google #1 when someone searches for the phrase "origin of candlelight vigil," whether in quotes or not. In fact, if you search for the phrase with quotation marks, <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2007/08/origin-of-candlelight-vigil.html" target="newwindow">my blog post on the matter</a> is the only result that comes up. Now, the fact that this Google query just leads you to another query is something that I need to work on. Now that I know that some other people out there have wondered the same question, I'm a little bit more motivated to do some actual library research. I can't just look up "candlelight vigils" though. I figure I probably would have to look under the history of Celts or druids or something like that, if I were to follow my original speculation. Any suggestions?<br /><br />A Google search for "interracial wedding pictures" will yield pictures of us on the first page. This was largely unintended, but a fair amount of people do search for such phrases, and come to our blog as a result.<br /><br />Speaking of which, our series of posts on our Turbulent Engagement recently achieved one of its primary missions. Someone else going through a very similar situation found <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2006/12/our-turbulent-engagement-supplemental.html#comments" target="newwindow">the posts</a> and <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2006/12/our-turbulent-engagement-part-3.html#comments" target="newwindow">actually found them helpful</a>! I believe as of the end of September, "pivotpivot" and her fiance were married, so congratulations, if you ever read our blog!<br /><br />Judging by Google referrals though, you'd think the subject of our blog was Korean rice, or Korean cooking. We get quite a few more visitors looking for that than anything else.<br /><br />I hope the relatively recent garden update additions haven't made this blog too unfocused. If the lack of focus enrages you, please let us know. Now, letting us know doesn't necessarily mean that we'll change things. But it would be nice to know. I know at least Ewokgirl likes seeing these updates ;)<br /><br />BTW, if you are a regular reader of this blog and have a blog yourself, please let us know so we can link you. And most certainly let us know if you've linked us and we haven't linked you. That would be dreadful indeed.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-37306075797303761682007-08-07T08:46:00.000-04:002007-08-07T08:47:24.038-04:00No Apologies For Long CommentsWhen people leave long comments (here or elsewhere), they sometimes apologize for the length of their response.<br /><br />I am here to tell you that you do not need to do such a silly thing on this blog. We don't care how long your comment is, unless it's a troll comment or otherwise inappropriate. We like getting comments, and we like getting long ones just as much as any other length (maybe even more than any other length), so you have our full approval to blab away. In fact, you are hereby ordered NOT to apologize if you are leaving an appropriate long comment.<br /><br />Has anyone ever been offended by an appropriate and long comment on one's blog? I just wonder why some people apologize when they leave long comments...maybe they themselves don't like long comments on their own blog?JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-79861181246602898492007-07-24T08:41:00.000-04:002007-07-24T09:02:16.588-04:00Test PostHello? Blogger does not seem to be posting an administrative detail post that I've written, so I'm testing again.<br /><br />EDIT: It obviously works now, for whatever reason. I wasn't the only one having this problem, according to Google's Blogger Help group. My issue went away when I cleared my cache. However, new post entries did not appear in my Google Reader, indicating that the problem might not have just been limited to my computer.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-42149324429228020882007-07-24T08:39:00.001-04:002007-07-24T08:39:37.266-04:00Following Comment ThreadsHave you ever commented on an interesting thread on, say, barmy old codgers, and then forgot to check back afterwards? Well, you probably have, because if you remembered, then you didn't forget. I commented <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2007/07/behind-scenes-dabbling.html" target="newwindow">here</a> that I wished Blogger had an easy way to follow comment threads. Little did I know at the time that Blogger actually <i>does</i> have a way to do this, and that it's already enabled. Since I never saw layman's instructions on how to subscribe to comment threads, I'll present them here.<br /><br />Blogger hides these comment subscription links on a post's individual page. By "post's individual page," I mean the page to which you are directed when you click the title of the post. For example, clicking "Following Comment Threads" title up top would lead you to that post's dedicated page. You will also be directed to the individual page if you click the post title out of the blog reader of your choice (I use Google Reader). <br /><br />1. When you find yourself at the post's dedicated page, scroll all the way down to the bottom, where you will see "Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)." <br /><br />2. Since I use Google Reader, I right-click and copy the link address. If you use a better integrated reader, then you might just be able to left-click.<br /><br />3. Then I go to Google Reader, where I click "Add Subscription" and paste in the copied address. <br /><br />In the same manner as you receive blog updates, you'll also receive updates whenever anyone else comments on the thread-of-interest. I made a separate folder in which to keep the posts/comments that I want to follow. Otherwise things would get really crowded really fast.<br /><br />Did everyone else already know how to do this? I realize I might be waaay behind when it comes to these things, but this new (to me) revelation will undoubtedly end up being somewhat useful. I comment on a number of blogs, and it is difficult to keep track of each thread on which I've commented.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-64701405401992302272007-07-19T13:59:00.000-04:002007-07-19T14:15:30.255-04:00Behind the Scenes DabblingI've added some Feedburner thingies on the right, if you haven't noticed. Please let me know if stuff starts going crazy on your feed readers or Google Reader or whatever you use. Or perhaps you're rather low tech and don't use any of those. I don't blame you; if it weren't for Google Reader's ease-of-use, I would still be clicking on my bookmarks to read all your blogs. <br /><br />I also wanted to try to implement some sort of Blogger plug-in to notify you whenever someone commented on a post that you wanted to follow. Alas, it seems as though Blogger is ages behind WordPress in that area. FYI, I am aware of <a href="http://co.mments.com" target="newwindow">co.mments</a> and <a href="http://www.cocomment.com" target="yermom">CoComment</a>, but I wanted a Blogger supported plug-in that would e-mail you, whereas those other two services (I think) would require you to go to their site in order to see comments. If I could go back to November 2006, I would tell myself to sign up with WordPress. Keep that in mind, any of you who might start a blog one of these days.<br /><br />I seem to have caught the blog administration bug. There could be any number of additional updates, so please make sure to let me know if something's not working anymore.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-51468758142256903702007-06-05T12:59:00.000-04:002007-06-05T13:01:26.100-04:004000We just now had our 4000th visitor to our blog, around 12:42 PM. Someone whose ISP is based in or around Moorhead, MN.<br /><br />Yay, for sooth.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-40575140583161052052007-05-05T07:27:00.000-04:002007-05-05T07:27:30.238-04:00Farewell, AgainWe are going out of town again. This time to the evil hamlet of Gainesville, Florida. It just so happens that my younger sister is graduating. The graduation ceremony is Sunday afternoon, and we'll be staying there until Monday morning, instead of rushing to try to get back at a respectable hour Sunday night. Hopefully I won't be too contaminated by Gator air.<br /><br />I don't have any interesting questions to leave you with this time though. I gotta get going, so I can't sit here and think of one. <br /><br />Congrats to CappuccinoMom, whose blog is linked on our sidebar. She will have had her 3rd baby by the time we get back (hopefully).JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-44962517230570404852007-05-03T07:57:00.000-04:002007-06-26T08:07:47.318-04:00Standard Disclaimer<u><b>Last Update: 2007 June 26</b></u><br /><br />I got the idea from looking over Harmony's shoulder whilst she read <a href="http://inashoe.blogspot.com/2005/12/my-standard-disclaimer.html" target="newwindow">Kim's standard disclaimer</a>. Where she got it from doesn't matter to me. I found this to be a great idea, considering that some of our writings might offend some people. In fact, this disclaimer might offend you too. This disclaimer is partially derived from our <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2007/03/just-so-you-know.html" target="newwindow">We-Don't-Condemn-You-for-the-Following-Items</a> post.<br /><br /><b>Regarding The Most Important Things</b><br />God is the only God, and Jesus was His only Son, and consequently the only way to heaven. The Bible is God's infallible Word, and is our guide to life. We believe that even non-Christians are bound by God's Word, and reject that not believing in the one true God exempts you from following His commands.<br /><br /><b>Regarding Education:</b><br />Although we have not homeschooled yet and were not homeschooled ourselves, we fully believe that homeschooling is the way to go, and that it would probably be beneficial to every family who did it. However, every family is free to do as they choose; some circumstances might necessitate public schools. I said that to cover for any situations involving abusive, broken, or otherwise toxic home environments.<br />We believe that public schooling, overall, is a messed up socialist institution. No offense to public school teachers (especially since Harmony's mom is one, and a great one at that!), but statistics show that <a href="http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040922-122847-5968r.htm">teachers are more likely to send their own children to private school than the average American</a>. That just *might* indicate that there's something wrong with the system. We also do not believe that peer-based education is the way to go. I can hear it now: "<i>I</i> went to public school and <i>I</i> turned out fine." Sure, it happens all the time (take us for example). But how much better you might've turned out if you'd had better quality schooling, more God, and better "socialization." <br /><br /><b>The Bottom Line:</b><br />We fully see that <b><u>one size hardly ever fits all</u></b>. We might make blanket statements about this or that, but we don't ever know all the circumstances. We don't know your situation, and we will make our best effort to extend grace to those placed in situations of which we ourselves would not "approve." <br /><hr /><br />We will probably add to this list as we continue to discuss controversial topics which necessitate disclaimers.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-24052754635616908882007-04-10T07:02:00.000-04:002007-04-10T07:16:36.961-04:00Freedom of Speech Partially RevokedAfter enjoying about 3.5 months of complete freedom of speech, I have decided to revoke the privilege. I have disabled anonymous commenting, because people are more brash than they normally would be if they have total anonymity. If you are going to be posting snide or sarcastic comments, you'll have to present <i>some</i> sort of face here. I apologize to the anonymous agreeable readers out there who would want to comment. My e-mail address is on my profile page, or you can sign up on Blogger (you don't have to have a blog in order to comment).<br /><br />I have not yet decided to re-implement comment approval / moderation. If we start getting inane and incendiary comments, I sure will revoke freedom of speech on this blog. <br /><br />If you are wondering what sort of stuff started this crack down, please view comment #2 on <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2007/03/its-not-me-its-them.html">this post</a>. It's not that incendiary, I know, but this seems like the sort of poster who could get that way if further provoked by Biblical tenets. Feel free to jump in on the conversation if you'd like. I have a response written up, but I'm going to post a bit later, in order to remove any perhaps-impulsive elements in my reply.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-43841743564041232012007-03-30T10:52:00.000-04:002007-03-30T11:12:34.123-04:00More Admin Details, and Public ServiceMoved the external links to the bottom of the sidebar. I've linked the people who come often to our humble blog. If you come here often and want your blog linked, comment here and let me know. Or if you are reclusive and don't want people coming to your blog, first of all, why do you have a blog? And second of all, let me know and I will remove your link.<br /><br />This public service bit of humorous observation is brought to you by JunkMale:<br />You know how sometimes you see those criminal work crews by the sides of the road? Good that they are "repaying their debt" to society. There are usually bright signs by them saying things like "County Jail Workers." Sometimes I see those signs...but I don't see any jail workers. This worries me.<br /><br />More public service in the form of free MP3s of hymns.<br /><a href="http://kleinwoodcofc.org/mp3_downloads.html" target="newwindow">Kleinwood Church of Christ</a> (lots of songs, quality's not bad)<br /><a href="http://www.letgodbetrue.com/worship/songs/index.htm" target="newwindow">Church of Greenville</a> (very good quality, doctrine is a bit...hardline)<br /><a href="http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mdwyer/songs.htm" target="newwindow">Lafayette Church of Christ</a><br /><a href="http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~bob/christian_mp3/index.htm" target="newwindow">Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</a><br /><a href="http://www.lds.org/cm/catalogalphamp3/1,18331,4768-1,00.html" target="newwindow">Mormons sing some of God's greatest hits</a> (and insert some hits of their own, such as "Joseph Smith's First Prayer")<br /><a href="http://www.plymouth-church.com/hymns.html" target="newwindow">Plymouth Church of Christ hymn recordings</a> (bad to horrible quality, but at least they're there)<br /><a href="http://www.linary.com/music/songs-praisinghimii.htm" target="newwindow">Linary Church of Christ</a><br /><a href="http://www.grkat.nfo.sk/eng/music.html" target="newwindow">Byzantine choir chant</a> (haven't listened to much at all, but it could be good)JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-63722465460026837792007-03-21T16:14:00.000-04:002007-03-30T12:10:51.244-04:00Administrative DetailsI've made some subtle changes to our blog template. For one thing, the line width has been increased, so hopefully there won't be as much scrolling up and down if you're trying to read a particularly long post and refer back to previous parts of it. Etc. etc.<br /><br />Please let me know immediately if you see any craziness.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-44926095595474344312007-02-01T19:00:00.000-05:002007-03-30T12:10:51.245-04:00Is it just me?Over the last few days/weeks a great number of the blogs I read on a daily or weekly basis have given up the ghost with the RSS feed. My email client displays an error message: "_______ is not a valid RSS feed." My suspicion is that it has to do with the conversion to New Blogger, but I suppose it could just be my computer?<br /><br />Among the great number of blogs which I no longer receive in my inbox are:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/">The Common Room</a></li><li><a href="http://rouses.net/blog/index.html">Christian Unity</a></li><li><a href="http://runningriverlatinschool.blogspot.com/">Running River Latin School</a></li><li><a href="http://inashoe.blogspot.com/">Life in a Shoe</a></li><li><a href="http://schoolathome.blogspot.com/">School@Home</a></li><li><a href="http://www.blestwithsons.com/">Blest With Sons</a></li><li><a href="http://guiltfreehomeschooling.blogspot.com/">Guilt-Free Homeschooling</a></li></ul>To all those who post on these blogs, this is just a heads-up that there might have been issues with those who subscribe to your feed. And if anyone has a magic solution for me, I'm all ears. :) It's SO much easier when all the feeds come nice and neatly into my inbox.Harmonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105846442509828835noreply@blogger.com3