Comments Conundrum

Haloscan is being shut down on: Feb 11, 2010
The Haloscan hardware and software is physically failing and we have no choice but to discontinue the service.

That's the notice I received a few days ago from Haloscan, the service that currently allows commenting on this blog.

They offer two options:

1.) Switch to a paid service who will transfer and host all Haloscan comments and become the host for all future comments (for $12/year)

or

2.) Export all Haloscan comments as a file for which there is currently no way to import into any other useful commenting system.

Hmm...

When I started this blog, Blogger-hosted comments were either entirely non-existent or riddled with Spam, which is why I opted for Haloscan commenting in the first place.

When Blogger moved out of beta a few years ago and offered many new features, I felt a little bit trapped. Switching to New Blogger meant that many (if not all) the modifications I had made to my old template would be lost, including Haloscan comments, so I stuck with my old modified template.

Now that my hand has been forced (to decide, at least) and I'm choosing to give up the Haloscan comments for the time being, I am left with the feeling that this is a bit of a mixed blessing. Yes, I'm losing all of your comments (mine too!), but I'm hoping that New Blogger will offer some new features of which I'll be able to take advantage.

Besides -- when I started this blog, it was my only foray into the world wide web. Now, with Flickr and Facebook, etc, many of the smaller project and quips, observations, etc. find their way into other outlets.

I don't get that many comments in this blog space anymore, so it won't be too big a loss, I guess. Chances are, if I wasn't mentioning here, the few regular readers would likely have never noticed.

Bottom line: I will soon be switching to Blogger comments.

Hopefully, you'll see some other changes improvements in the near future, as well.

Photo Friday - 'Distant'

With ALL due respect to war photographer Robert Capa, who is famous for saying, "If your picture isn't good enough, you're not close enough," sometimes a bit of distance is a good thing.

SPC - 'Flashback' - #4

Well, we're coming to the end of the "Flashback - 2009" challenge. This month I challenged participants to choose two or more themes from 2009 (see list below) and do a new self portrait that combines the themes in some way.

Album Covers
Indroduce Yourself
Headless
High Key / Low Key
Diptych
Shoes
Seven Deadly Sins
Childhood
Portals
Hats
tiny words
Red


The entries have been widely varied in theme and style, but so far, nobody has managed to get all twelve themes into a single image.

Here's my stab at the "Tremendous Twelve."



Album Covers - Star Wars CD - Check!

Indroduce Yourself - Hi, I'm Jeremy and I spent way too much time thinking about how to do this! - Check!

Headless - Both myself and 'poor Greedo' -- Check!

High Key / Low Key -- See the little key up HIGH in the frame? - Check!

Diptych - Polyptych, check!

Shoes - Chucks! Check!

Childhood - Greedo action figure and the Star Wars soundtrack. I can remember begging my cousin to play the Star Wars theme on a little air organ that we had in the hallway at our house. I can also remember having an 8-track cartridge that contained the Star Wars theme, but it wasn't the first track in that particular "Program" (8-tracks only had 4 program stops, right?) -- so I had to listed to "Love Story" or some such "nonsense" so that I could hear the Star Wars theme in all its glory!

Portals - corner of a window up there in the upper right corner - Check!

Hats - My son's Fire Chief outift - Check

tiny words -- Check!

Red -- The hat, again, Check

Seven Deadly Sins -- oops, I guess I was too slothly to include that one -- oh, wait...Check!!


Cheating? Maybe.

:-)

Photo Friday - 'Damaged'

SPC - 'Flashback' - #3

This weeks themes:
*diptych/polyptych
*Childhood (Star Wars toys)
*Introduce Yourself -- Hi, my name's Jeremy and I'm a Star Wars geek. Or, at least, I used to think I was until I discovered the internet and determined that I'm "galaxies far, far away" from even being a Padawan Learner when it comes to Star Wars geeks.
*tiny words

SPC - 'Flashback' - #2

2009 Themes represented:
Album Covers
Low Key (I think)
Seven Deadly Sins - Envy
tiny words (incidentally)

More about the concept, etc. if you click through to the photo on Flickr.

Photo Friday - 'Bed Time'

From a couple of years ago:

All I could think of for the theme, but I think it fits.

Playing in the Snow

SPC - 'Flashback' - #1

Well, it's a new month and with that comes a new Challenge Theme over at Self Portrait Challenge.

2010 is here and with it comes the never-ending array of fond remembrances of the passing year, and because the coming year ends in a zero we will hear even more about the passing decade -- "The Noughties" was what the Brits decided to call it, right?

Ever the trend-follower, I have decided to make the challenge theme for January - Flashback - 2009.

Participants will choose two or more themes from 2009 (see list below) and do a new self portrait that combines the themes in some way.

Here's the list of challenge themes from 2009:


Album Covers
Indroduce Yourself
Headless
High Key / Low Key
Diptych
Shoes
Seven Deadly Sins
Childhood
Portals
Hats
tiny words
Red



Combining two themes is all that will be required, but I know that the creative souls we have in this group are capable of much more than that.

I'm curious to find out how many themes SPCers can combine into one entry.

Four? Six? All Twelve???


*************************

Here's my first entry for January.

Returning to a previous topic: Coffee mugs. Here's a travel mug that I use when I bring coffee to work from home.

How awesome is it to have an anti-psychotic drug advertised on a coffee mug??

2009 themes being combined here:
Portals
tiny words
Red

Photo Friday - 'Square'