A word on the new design this blog is sporting.

A blog about unnecessary quote marks. (via Biz Stone, Genius)

Update: On a related note, check out the flickr group Atrocious Apostrophes

It just occurred to me that as of today, I’ve been blogging for seven years. Check out the first entry, appropriately entitled “The First Entry.” I’ve come a long way since then.

So… Happy Bloggiversary to me, I suppose.

The Human Rights Campaign launched a new blog today, the HRC Back Story. From the introductory entry:

A lot happens in the GLBT community – and at HRC – every day. Some of the news gets covered by the gay groups, some by the gay press and much by the GLBT bloggers. “Back Story” will give another perspective on what’s going on.

We’ll give our take on what’s happening and how things get done – or don’t. That’s why we’re calling the blog the “back story” – to tell the story behind the headlines.

These are my links for 22 Jun through 25 Jun:

• pee and poo plush dolls * kiss & bajs | scandinavian details - The pee & poo set makes a fun, light-hearted tool for introducing your child to potty training (SSSH. It even makes a great gift for hard-to-please adults.)
• A Long Line for a Shorter Wait at the Supermarket (New York Times) - A relative newcomer to Manhattan is trying to teach the locals a new rule of living: the longer the line, the shorter the wait.
• Metroblogging DC: Maybe photography IS a crime - Wayan, Carl, myself and the rest of the DC Metblogs crew invite you out for a photo outing on what seems like the best day to do this: July 4th.
• Uncovering America: Fighting for Acceptance - Special Reports from CNN.com - From the basic desires for understanding to the complex issues of adoption and marriage, the LGBT community faces an array of challenges.
• If Architects Had to Work Like Web Designers - Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion.
• Second Life Without Sex Would Be a Sad Life, Indeed - There’s nothing virtual about the anxiety felt by Second Life residents these days.
• How Dumb Can a “Wizard” Get? - How can setting up a cell phone get that complicated?
• Machinist: Tech Blog, Tech News, Technology Articles - Salon - “No drop of milk oozes from the Apple teat without a crowd of journalists gathering to swallow it up,” writes Jack Shafer, Slate’s ever-clever media critic, in a piece launching his pre-iPhone “Apple Suck-Up Watch.” Shafer is the sort who reaches for his

These are my links for 18 Jun:

• Daily Blog Tips - You don?t need to know much about SEO to realize links are the golden road to blog promotion.
• Fluther: Tap the Collective - A new twist on social question and answer sites.
• 25 Web Sites to Watch - The Internet is evolving in new and inventive ways thanks to mashups that pull data from all over the Web and to AJAX-based interfaces that give sites the same degree of interactivity and responsiveness that desktop apps possess.
• The great iPhone hunt of 2007 | CNET News.com - Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently gave free advice to a columnist asking how to get an iPhone when they go on sale: head to an AT&T store, Jobs suggested, rather than Apple’s own retail outlets.
• Mozilla exec calls Apple’s Safari plan ‘duopolistic’ - Mozilla’s chief operating officer, John Lilly, is calling Steve Jobs’ plans for building Safari’s market share “out of date” and “duopolistic.”
• Dell apologizes for remove-this-blog-post-or-else nastygram | Tech news blog - CNET News.com - A blog post at Consumerist.com offering tips on buying from Dell drew a nasty cease-and-desist letter from the company’s attorney and then, in quick succession, a chastened apology from a Dell manager.
• Microwave popcorn warning memo - Unedited memo sent out to City of Seattle employees.
• 15 Best Game Show Hosts - TIME Magazine ranks 15 best game show hosts; Bob Barker comes out on top.

These are my links for 11 Jun:

• Vitamin Features » Web Design-isms: 7 Surefire Styles that Work - Glossy buttons, ornamental backgrounds, futuristic interfaces. We?ve all been guilty at one time or another of committing the 7 design-isms in this article from Larissa Meek. But that?s okay, she tells us, they?re classics for a reason.
• Ricky Martin to reign at NYC’s Puerto Rican parade | News | Advocate.com - Grammy-winning pop star Ricky Martin, chosen as the king of this weekend’s 50th annual Puerto Rican Day parade in New York City, said he’s excited for the sea of revelers but hopes no one will get out of hand.
• The innocence of the BBC on Flickr - Photo Sharing! - The BBC in part of its “Have your Say” campaign, accidentally published this image along with other members of the publics attempts at an alternative Olympics logo.

Time Magazine offers up an article on twitter, which deems it MySpace’s successor. Whatever — though now I know John Edwards’ campaign makes use of it.

I updated my blogroll last night and decided to check up on the links to make sure they still existed. I pared the list down by half, but I digress.

I noticed an entry at Biz Stone’s blog about tumblr, a new(ish) little web app. Naturally, I suckered myself into setting up my own tumblr. I use it to aggregate my blog, flickr, and twitter feeds.

When I launched Constructive Cynicism (hereafter referred to as ConCyn in this entry - my reasons why later) back in December, I had this notion that I’d blog differently. I wanted to avoid the personal diary that Grapefeed mostly was, and get more into the social commentary. I don’t think it’s working out so well.

Part of the problem is the frequency — or perhaps infrequency — of my entries. I don’t write an entry every day, much as I would like to. I know it doesn’t need to be a daily affair, but I think my readers — all three of you — would probably appreciate a little regularity.

And then, there’s the domain. I purchased the ConCyn name last year on a day when I was feeling particularly brilliant. Incidentally, my brain hasn’t quite recovered since, but I digress.

I figured it to be the perfect domain name for me: I am a lifelong cynic and it was a twist on the phrase “constructive criticism.” Despite its suitability though, I now think it’s problematic. For starters, at 20 letters it’s too long, hence my shortening it to ConCyn earlier. Second, because of its length and complex combination of letters, it’s easy to misspell. And finally, I already had the perfect domain: grapefeed.org. It’s short, easy to remember, easy to spell, and there are far more branding possibilities than with the ConCyn domain, which I feel is limited in its scope.

Think about it. I can make several grape references for various features of the site: wine, vine, seed, bunch, jam, jelly, and juice to start. I’ve even used a couple of these in the past.

It’s official then - I’m reverting to Grapefeed. Though, by the time you read this, I will probably already have.

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