Frustrated Blogging...

I try to keep my blogroll pretty current: in my humble opinion, life is too short to waste clicking on dead links...

It means that if I notice someone hasn't posted for a very long while, I delete them from my blogroll. The exception is if someone has posted a warning that there might be an enforced period of inactivity... because they're moving house or something.

But even though I delete the link from my blogroll, I haven't got the time to go through each and every past post of mine which refers to that blog, and delete the links there too. I wouldn't want to: some of the posts referred to are well-worth revisiting...

Now blogging is time-consuming (though much less so than many other activities, such as, say... watching TV) and not everyone wants to keep doing it. Also, no matter how much a person enjoys blogging, sometimes circumstances are such that it's just not practical to continue. And occasionally people blog for a while and then get bored and want to stop.

That's fine. It's sad to see good blogs stop, but hey, it happens.

But please... please! If you are going to stop blogging, please do not delete all your blog posts. If people have linked back to you, the link is then "dead" and if they just linked (providing you with internet traffic) and didn't actually copy your post in full, then they have a whole load of blog posts which are meaningless. I mean, if established bloggers waited 12 months before linking to a new blog, just in case the author didn't stay the course, it would take ages for anyone to get going. Blogging relies on readers and links alert readers to the new blogs.

Also, please do not delete the entire blog. The blog name and the links still exist, but what can happen is that the site then becomes available for takeover by advertisers... and some of the stuff advertised this way can be very unappealing indeed. Another blogger, a while back, didn't listen to my advice, deleted her blog and then got very upset as all her friends found that their links were going to a site advertising Viagra and other such stuff. It took quite a bit of time and trouble to get through to Blogger to put the thing right.

...And you never know... in a few months you might even find you miss blogging, and want to come back!

It's Been Quite A Week...

...and I'm totally pooped. Back to "normal" on Saturday!

Priceless...

This had me spluttering coffee over my new keyboard, courtesy of my good friend Newhousenewjob. No damage done, but it was a close call!

Three More For Rollcall...

...And now I've found another three blogs. Not sure how they avoided my attention for so long. They've probably not been very neighbourly, and haven't made any comments. I'm nosy: I nearly always check out the people who comment on my blog posts...

First we have DigiHairshirt over at The Digital Hairshirt... to be fair, I've seen Digi's incisive and witty comments over at Karen's place before, but never quite managed to get as far as her blog... mea culpa, mea culpa...!

And next up is Adele from Journey to Therese. Adele is a Canadian living in the US... I haven't managed to figure out if this is a permanent state of affairs, and if so, why she's in exile...

Finally, we have Credo, Catholic Journal, from Ireland... at least, I think it's posted from Ireland. There's lots of Irish stuff mentioned, so it's probably a safe-enough assumption...

Pay them a visit and say hallo! And watch this space for more great blog discoveries!

Telling It Like It Is...

It's that time of year again: our parish Confirmation classes have started up.

We have found that boys and girls approach Confirmation in different ways. After accidentally ending up with boys and girls attending on different nights last year (something to do with football practice) and finding it to be a great success, we decided to make it a deliberate choice this year.

Fr. Tim had mentioned suitable attire at the (mixed) introductory session for candidates and parents, and he told the youngsters that they needed to be careful with new shoes, as kneeling down would be difficult.

I realised from their expressions that the boys were unconcerned: they'd decided that this was a girl thing. And I could also see from their expressions that the girls were sceptical: they wear heels and kneel down for Communion on Sundays. It's easy. It's a girl thing. What does a priest know?

So, at the first Confirmation class for the girls, I told it like it is: Fr. Tim, being a mere man, had got it wrong. Kneeling down in high heels is not difficult. However, what is difficult is getting back up again without a Communion rail for support... leaning on the Bishop's knees as one tries to stand is not really an option...!

Fr. Z's Caption Contest...

The eminent Fr. Zuhlsdorf occasionally displays a light-hearted streak amongst all that Latin prose... My favourite caption to date (after 15 comments) has got to be this one from Fr Ó Buaidhe:

One Ring to bind them all,

One Ring to find them,

One Ring to rule them all,

And to the rubrics bind them.

Brand New Television Channel...

...catering especially for all those aficionados of liturgical dance: PWTN (Progressive Word Television Network)! Check out the new schedule over at the Curt Jester's place!

Oh, All Right... If I Must...!

Having ignored an indirect meme from the Pacific Gem on the grounds that it was too long (and she'd added a get-out clause), I suppose I'd better do this one. It's short. And I may never get tagged again if I don't come up with the goods... and then I'll feel lonely and unloved!

Rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

I had a little difficulty with the "nearest" book requirement.

I've been having a major sort-out, and technically, the nearest book to me at this moment is my dictionary: I find myself wanting to check things while writing my blog posts... I'm pedantic like that. Anyway, I tried using the dictionary, but got into trouble because it didn't have complete sentences...

The next book on my computer desk was the Bible. Douay-Rheims version. Problem number 1 was identifying page 123 (should I take the Old or the New Testament page 123?) I plumped for Old Testament, on the basis that it was the "proper" page 123. Problem number 2 was identifying the sentences... the Douay-Rheims version goes in for a lot of colons and semicolons, making the sentences long and convoluted, and sentence five was practically on the next page. Problem number 3 was that it was the Book of Leviticus on leprosy, and I sort of lost the will to live...

The next nearest book (How Cats Conquered the World by Heather Hacking) only had 96 pages.

In desperation, I grabbed a book from the top of the pile on the armchair behind me (these books are awaiting the construction of a bookshelf... and have been for some time.) It turned out to be The Incorruptibles by Joan Carroll Cruz. Page 123 only had three sentences on it...

Finally, The Wonder of Guadalupe by Francis Johnston put me out of my misery...

"The bronze, hazel-coloured eye of the Blessed Virgin lights up, and on the surface there shines quite distinctly the silhouette of a human bust. The head is turned threequarters towards the Virgin's right and slightly bent forward; the chest is framed and lengthened by a movement of the arms going forward as though to show something. It all happened as though, at the moment of the Image being impressed, a man who was facing the Blessed Virgin, and reflected in the cornea of her eye, had himself been photographed in this indirect way."

I'm loathe to put anyone else through this sort of torture. But if I really must, then I'll tag Leutgeb, Mark, Paulinus, Tony and Fr. Justin.

What The Pope Saw On Sunday...

...hopefully he would have found it encouraging!

Twitch of the mantilla to Fr. Blake.

Support For The Holy Father

It looks as if Cardinal Ruini's suggestion that as many of the faithful as possible attend the Pope's Sunday Angelus address has been taken up with great enthusiasm. 200,000 people gathered at St. Peter's Square and the surrounding areas to hear the Holy Father's address.

Let's get a bit of perspective on this...

200,000 people turned up today. The usual attendance (on an ordinary, bog-standard Sunday) is about 20,000 (which in itself is far from shabby!) And the number of students at La Sapienza University staging a sit-in to protest about the Pope's visit was... umm... about 100.

The total student number is 138,000 - La Sapienza is the largest university in Europe. 100 protesters out of 138,000... hmmn...

The pope's speech and prayer were followed by three minutes of applause.

UPDATE: The BBC did a report about the cancellation of the Pope's visit to La Sapienza, and the protest of 67 academics and 100 or so of the students... Strangely, they appear to have missed the gathering of 200,000 people in the centre of Rome. Odd. They must have blinked and missed it... I mean, the impartiality and fairness of the BBC with regard to all things Catholic is well known...