Author: Kevin

Sitemeter Responds!

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Sitemeter Responds!

There’s been a bit of backlash against Sitemeter since they “upgraded” to a new system that appears to be a reaction to Google’s Analytics offering.

Nobody appeared to be happy. I’m not either.

I just checked Sitemeter and got this:

We are in the process of rolling back SiteMeter to the former system.
SiteMeter should be back online soon.
Please check back later.
Sorry for inconvenience.

Sincerely, SiteMeter Support Team.

Apparently they were listening!

UPDATE: Jed is impressed with Sitemeter’s responsiveness.

UPDATE II: Sitemeter apologizes:

Dear Valued SiteMeter Customers,

As you’re no doubt aware by now, we’ve chosen to roll back our website to the previous “classic” version.

Based on some performance issues we were experiencing along with feedback from the community it appears we have pushed our new site live prematurely.

Our intention is and has always been to offer you, our customer’s better tools and more accurate data. Obviously we fell short of this. The first thing we need to do, moving forward, is to roll out new product releases in parallel to our current platform. This will give everyone a chance to try out, evaluate, and comment on our new concepts.

We would also like to take this opportunity to ask those of you who had issues or concerns with the new site to participate in future beta testing. We had originally asked for Beta Tester in two of our newsletters sent earlier this year so we’re eager to build our beta group even larger. If you’re interested in participating please send us an email using our support ticketing system with BETA TESTER in the subject line of your email.

In the near term we’ll be evaluating the performance issues and feedback from our community. If you have additional input that would help us build you a better product we’d like to hear from you.

We apologize for the botched rollout and will do our best to make sure the next time we do this it has your full support and blessing.

Sincerely,

The SiteMeter Team

Good on ’em! Just make sure you continue to offer “SiteMeter Classic.”

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

If you want to talk about censorship, if you want to talk about using poltics in order to suppress a certain thought, The Path to 9/11 – blocking The Path to 9/11 is that story. The mainstream media since 9/11 has exposed to a greater extent than any time in our history the degree to which the Democratic Party is the mainstream media. – Andrew Breitbart, PJTV Daily Sept. 11 – 9/11 and the Media

UPDATE: Found at American Digest and perfect for this QotD:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWP5ljQV79s&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1&w=425&h=344]

American Exceptionalism

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There has been some discussion around the web on the topic of American Exceptionalism, brought about by the recent Q&A of Senator McCain at Columbia University. Dr. Sanity‘s piece is quite illuminating, as she includes a transcript of the question-and-answer session, and notes that the audience was completely silent during and after McCain’s answers. I would like to answer Judy Woodruff’s questions myself:

Woodruff: Senator, I want to come back to something you said earlier, I think you used the word exceptional and unique about being an American. On this 9/11, this special day, what — help us understand what you think it means to be an American. And I don’t mean that in the obvious way.

I mean, people who live in Canada, who live in Mexico, around the world feel special about their country, so what is it that’s different about being in America? Are Americans better than people in some of these other countries? We hear the term “exceptionalism” about the United States.

No, Judy, American’s aren’t “better than people in some of those other countries,” Americans are the people of all those other countries. That’s what makes America exceptional. From the perspective of political freedom, where else but in America can an Austrian immigrant become governor of a state with a Gross State Product so high it places seventh worldwide behind Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and China, but ahead of Spain, Canada, India, South Korea and Mexico? Where else but in America could a second-generation Indian immigrant become a governor? Where else but in America can people come, work hard, and achieve a life that in their country of origin would represent unimaginable wealth? What other country is so attractive that people literally risk death in the deserts and oceans to reach it? And they come here, by and large, not to wall themselves off in enclaves of their own kind, but to be Americans.

America is exceptional, Judy, because America is the combination of all the peoples of the world, many of whom made a conscious choice to become Americans, and many more are the immediate descendants of such people. Look at the last Olympic games. Review just some of the names of American medal winners: Liukin, Liezak, Torres, Vanderkaay, Zagunis, Kai, Rodriguez, Taurasi, O’Reilly, Ah Mow-Santos, Haneef-Park, Nnamani. Those are all AMERICAN names, Judy. Don’t you think that’s exceptional?

McCain’s reply was still very good:

MCCAIN: I do believe in American exceptionalism.

And I think it was best articulated by our founding fathers. But I also think that my hero, Teddy Roosevelt, expressed it very well, and other leaders throughout our history.

We’re the only nation I know in the world that really is deeply concerned about adhering to the principle that all of us are created equal and endowed by our creators with certain rights. And those we have tried to bring to the world. And we have not so much militarily, but through example, through leadership, through economic assistance.

Look at what we did for Europe after World War II, look at the continuous efforts we make throughout the world. Look at the efforts we’re making to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa. There’s a lot more America can do.

And I love these other countries, and I’m not trying to denigrate them. But I know of no other country in the world with the generosity of spirit and the concern for fellow human beings than the United States of America, and I think that goes back to our very beginnings.

And I think it goes back to our national makeup. We are all those other nations, often the best of them.

Woodruff presses:

WOODRUFF: Does that make America better than these other…?

MCCAIN: I think it makes us exceptional. I think it makes us exceptional in the kind of citizenry we have and the kind of service and sacrifice that we are capable of.

And I mean that in no disrespect to any other nation, our close and unique relationship with the British. I have — I’m not trying to in any way denigrate any other nation, but it doesn’t in any way diminish my pride in the history of this nation, which has literally shed our blood in all four corners of the earth many times in defense of someone else’s freedom and have tried to further the principles of freedom and democracy everywhere in the world. I think we’re dedicated to that proposition. And, frankly, I think we’ve done a pretty good job.

And nobody so much as applauded.

Interesting Observation

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Earlier this week my wife said, “I’m off Saturday. We need to go to the range. It’s been too long since I’ve shot that .38.” We have a S&W Model 60 2″ .38 Special that we keep in a quick-access safe (along with a 4″ Ruger GP-100). The .38 is “hers,” though she can shoot either in a pinch.

As I’ve noted here previously, my wife is not a “gunnie,” but she’s a decent shot, and I can hand her my Ruger MkII Target, a brick of 500 .22LR, and set up our swinging target stand, and she’ll happily blast away all day.

So we got up bright and early this morning, loaded up the truck with the .38, the .357, the MkII and the Single-Six, my Kimber Classic and M1 Carbine, the swinger stand and the rest of the paraphernalia, and we headed out to the Tucson Rifle Club – a 45 minute drive. The TRC is a nice facility, with a 500 meter rifle silhouette range, two 100-yard “public” rifle/pistol ranges, a 100-yard .22 rifle range, a 100-yard range dedicated to law-enforcement (members can use it when law-enforcement isn’t), a 200 yard handgun silhouette range, an action shooting range with three bays for cowboy and IDPA/IPSC shooters, and a 1,000 yard range with shooting positions also at 200, 300, and 600 yards. There is some interference. For example, if there is a match on the 1,000 yard range at anything over 200 yards, then the action bays are closed since they can be observed from the shooting positions on the 1,000 yard range.

Today, everything was busy. There was a match on the 500 meter range, the two 100 yard public ranges don’t really suit themselves to close-range pistol shooting aside from the fact that they were nearly full, the .22 range and the police range were occupied by a Hunter Safety class, the pistol silhouette range was running a Cowboy Lever Gun silhouette match (pistol caliber lever guns), and there was a 600 yard match going on.

The place was hopping.

So I asked my wife if she was game to go to the Elsy Pearson public range in Casa Grande, which is quite a hike North of town, and she said “Fine!” (No, the actual, heartfelt “Fine!” Not the “Whatever the hell you want” “Fine!” which doesn’t really mean “Whatever the hell you want.”) On the way back towards town I had an idea. There is a 100 yard range operated by the County in Tucson Mountain Park, and it was not far off the track. I have never shot there, but I’ve driven up to it to check it out before. I thought we’d give that a shot (so to speak.)

It was packed. And it wasn’t packed with deer hunters sighting in for the fall hunt, either. More on this in a bit.

So, we decided to go ahead with the original fallback plan, stopped and got some breakfast, continued home so I could pick up my home-made target stand (the Casa Grande range is unattended and has no target frames or targets. Bring your own, and take ’em home when you’re finished with ’em.) Then we hit the road again.

It’s about an hour from my house to the range, mostly on I-10 and a short stint on I-8. Unfortunately the I-8 exit was closed due to an accident, so I had to take the long way around to get to the range. It wasn’t packed, but it was pretty busy. Recently the City of Casa Grande got some grant money from the department of Game and Fish and have done a very nice job in expanding and improving the range. There are now four bays; a 100 yard, a 250 yard, and two 25 yard bays, all with concrete shooting benches under sunshades. The 25-yard bays have three shooting positions each, and the 100 yard has six or eight, I believe. We took one of the 25 yard pistol bays for ourselves, but the main 250 yard bay (some 20 shooting positions, I think) was damned near full. Again, not filled with Bambi hunters. One thing I noticed at TRC, the Tucson Mountain Park and again at Casa Grande, it appeared that at least half the shooters were there for purely recreational purposes, and at least 10% of the guns on the firing line were EBRs (you know, the guns that Barack If it Looks Like a Machine Gun it Must Be a Machine Gun Obama believes are fully automatic and not used by “sportsmen and hunters,” but which are, in fact semi-automatic and of a “kind in common use at (this) time.”

Moreover, at least 10% of the shooters on the line were of the female persuasion as well. And some were shooting those EBRs.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable morning, even though I put some 240 miles on my truck. I got to spend several hours with my favorite person in the world in the pursuit (and capture!) of my (second!) favorite recreational activity. 😉 Can’t beat that even with a big stick.

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

Stolen in its entirety, a comment from LawDog’s 9/11 post:

Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity.

It isn’t that the MSM gets together and CONSPIRES to avoid images of 9/11/2001, or the bestial behavior of radical muslims around the world. It’s that they cannot grasp it. It doesn’t fit anywhere in their world; a world where Socialism works and they – the anointed – are divinely chosen by Providence to guide those who are less enlightened (that’s us).

They reacted the same way to the news from the killing fields. To the revelation that Stalin was a monster whose body count dwarfed Hitler’s. They cannot deal with the information that so contradicts their world-view, so they blank it out of their minds and unconsciously try to blank it out of the world.

They lack the intelligence to handle world as complicated as the real one – hence the way they fall for Marxism, a belief totally unsuited to the complex modern world – and they lack the moral strength to face the consequences of their past behavior. The mass graves. The misery. Acknowledging these would break them, which is why the become so hysterical when confronted.

They are pathetic intellectual dwarfs and moral lightweights. The proper response to them is not anger but impatient contempt. Certainly they must not be allowed to run the country. – “c. s. p. schofield”

If You’re the Praying Type. . .

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If You’re the Praying Type . . .

. . . and even if (like me) you’re not, please point your thoughts towards those about to receive the full fury of Hurricane Ike. Fellow blogger Jim of Smoke on the Water and I traded emails yesterday. Jim recently moved off his 30′ sloop New Dawn into one of the stilt-mounted houses common in Galveston. He has sent his significant other off to safety, but decided to ride out the storm in Galveston. He wasn’t clear on whether he was staying in the house, or just someplace nearby.

The storm surge is predicted to top 22′.

I doubt his house stilts are quite that tall.

Good luck, brother. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.

Hey, FEC? BITE ME.

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Hey, FEC? BITE ME.

If this blog post represents a “contribution” to McCain’s campaign under the McCain-Feingold incumbent protection, er campaign finance reform act, then take me to court!

This individually produced viral ad is making the rounds of the blogosphere. I am more than happy to host it and help pass it along. I’ve seen it several places, but it was up at LawDog’s and someone offered to send the Flash video to anyone who wanted it.

I wanted it:

http://img.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v99/smallestminority/Dear_Mr_Obama.flv
I dislike John McCain as a candidate for President of the United States, but I have made my position quite clear vis-à-vis his Democrat opposition. When the choice is castration versus wedgie, I vote wedgie.

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

The basic and crucial political issue of our age is: capitalism versus socialism, or freedom versus statism. For decades, this issue has been silenced, suppressed, evaded, and hidden under the foggy, undefined rubber-terms of “conservatism” and “liberalism” which had lost their original meaning and could be stretched to mean all things to all men.

The goal of the “liberals” — as it emerges from the record of the past decades — was to smuggle this country into welfare statism by means of single, concrete, specific measures, enlarging the power of the government a step at a time, never permitting these steps to be summed up into principles, never permitting their direction to be identified or the basic issue to be named. Thus statism was to come, not by vote or by violence, but by slow rot—by a long process of evasion and epistemological corruption, leading to a fait accompli. (The goal of the “conservatives” was only to retard that process.)
– Ayn Rand, ” ‘Extremism,’ or The Art of Smearing,” Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal