Apologies all around for the delay in getting the site up. I was practically bed-ridden for a few days and then generally out of it after that. I'm close to 100% now. I'm just grateful whatever it was that laid me low wasn't swine flu. Anyhow, we now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Here's a little humor for you: here.

Addendum: A new blog worth celebrating has arrived at the New York Review of Books!

I am truly humbled by your generosity. The goal has been reached. Thank you a thousand times (erm, maybe 2,500 times) over! I'll write more tomorrow. The good news is we can rid ourselves of the awful Pay-pal icon.

We only need nine eight Zero more donations of $25. Please contribute. I'm just as eager as you to get that ugly Pay-pal button off the front page.

Update #5: We are $300 $225 away. That's only 12 9 more donations of $25. Please keep 'em coming.

Update #4: We're 80% of the way there, as of 1000am Central Time. Please keep 'em coming. Only need 20 18 more donations of $25 and we are done!

Update #3: Halfway there. Please keep the donations coming.

This site has been up and running since September 16, 2002. There have been very few times when I've asked for money (three four to be precise). But, with the cratering of ad revenues over the last two months I'm left with no choice but to ask you the readers for some help (and this is something I am extremely loath to do). In the next 15 days I'll have about $2500 worth of server, software, registration expenses that I simply cannot cover. If I can get 100 people to donate $25 dollars each we can get this covered. The Paypal button is attached. If you want to send a check, please send me an email or a PM. Thank you!

We're experiencing some technical difficulties right now. The white screen of death, mainly. They are being looked at. Hopefully to be resolved soon.

As you all know, Rick Harrison passed away a few months ago. And in his passing The Agonist was left with quite a hole to fill in its editorial staff. Today I am please to announce two new additions to our team. Although no one can replace Rick, I am must note that both our new team members, one a new Contributing Editor and the other a new contributor, will add to the debate here in fresh, new ways.

The first many of you know. For several years now I have asked Don Henry Ford, Jr. to be an editor. At long last he has agreed. And you now see the fruit of his labors each Friday evening with his 'Sabbath Eve' ruminations.

Our second team member is the Thepanzer. He is very well educated and brings a broad experience and excellent writing skills. Thepanzer's first post was several weeks ago, but due to my awful travel schedule and repeated illnesses I completely forgot to announce it.

Please give both a hearty Agonist welcome!

Let's try again! To post a picture already on teh internetz, right click the picture and select properties.

highlight the address eg: http://www.w3schools.com/images/pulpit.jpg and copy it

experiment by testing it here

to post the picture here at the agonist disregard all the coding except the line with img in it :D

so you should have a line that looks like this: {img border="0" src="http://www.w3schools.com/images/pulpit.jpg" width="304" height="228" /} but replace the { with < and } with > ; have fun!

Please add topic category tags to your diaries and stories so that other members can easily find them.

3:00AM Well, I wrestled the database into submission. Shininess tomorrow! Thanks for your patience.

THANK YOU LAMBERT! ~ eds

2:07AM Back again.

1:46AM The site will be briefly turned off and turned on again (about 5 minutes) at 2:00AM. You will have to re-login after the site re-appears.

12:37AM Back again.

12:15AM The site will be briefly turned off and turned on again (about 5 minutes) at 12:30AM. You will have to re-login after the site re-appears.

* * *

Tonight (US time) we'll be attempting the upgrade once again. Hopefully it will be smooth this time. And everyone will wake up Monday to a bright shiny new engine running the site. There won't be any external design changes. Just a rebuilt engine is about all.

(originally posted Feb. 15. Upgrade now on for Monday evening)

There is absolutely no spyware running on this site. I give you my word. We are testing out a new contextual-text based ad system sponsored by Kontera. It leaves absolutely no spyware on your machine. For more information please see the link.

As for some PC's seeing issues with spyware, it may be because of the right column mess we have right now and the fact that we are trying to add advertising from 'they who must not be named.'

Really, I would never allow spyware to be put on this site. Not in a million years. And Kontera, which is probably the culprit for some spyware software systems is not spyware either.

Some instructions for turning Kontera off:

I would also like to comment about your latest post about spyware. Kontera currently doesn't scan anything other than the content of the page and does not install software on a person's computer for tracking. Cookies are tracked if the person uses the "?" on the ad layer to disable the links, which is an option if the user no longer wished to view them.

Yes, we know the right side column is way out of alignment. It will be fixed tomorrow. In the meantime just ignore the skew.

So, ad revenues have fallen off a cliff. No surprise there. Expect changes. We'll be adding a complimentary advserver to BlogAds, including some banner ads. Sorry, I hate to do this to you but we have to pay the bills. Also, we'll be adding Kontera as soon as the upgrade is done. I'm just giving you all a heads up now so you aren't freaked out once they appear. But we won't do pop-ups, no matter how lucrative and we will be very careful about what kind of ads they serves us. You won't find Ann Coulter ads popping up here. Ever.

Part of the reason for this is that I have to raise some serious extra cash for Afghanistan. I need body-armor, protection, visa support and other very essential things for that part of the trip. And I am not about to start asking for donations. That being said, if there are any editors out there reading this, or you have friends that are editors working for established media outlets feel free to pass my info on. I could use all the freelance work I can get right now.

In the interim, I'm pretty close to finalizing plans for Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. I'll keep you all posted.

One thing you can always do to support the site is CLICK ON THE BLOGADS, every day! Like this one and this one. Okay, enough begging for now.

Please vote for The Agonist in the 2008 Weblog Awards. We'd really like to win this year!

Vote for Skippy. He's very deserving and as a blog pioneer and one of the first blogs I ever read he is far more deserving. So, please vote for Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. I repeat, vote here for Skippy the Bush Kangaroo! We can't have that other blog winning.

You may vote once every 24 hours in each poll.

Yes! We want you to vote multiple times!

We've been nominated and are once again a finalist for the category 'Best Large Blog (Authority between 301-500' by the folks over at the Weblog Awards. This is the third or fourth year in a row we've been nominated and I would very much like to see The Agonist win.

So, voting begins January 5, 2009. We'll keep everyone posted.

Last year Stirling took the prize with this post on the economy. But this year the prize goes to Numerian, with his post on "Who Got It Right."

Head on over to Jon Swift's blog for the whole list of best posts of the year.

We encountered some serious upgrade issues, as I am sure you are all aware of by now. We've put it on hold and are staying with the old version for the time being for two reasons: 1. I don't have a decent internet connection to oversee what's happening in real time and 2. I'm not real sure what to do about the problems we encountered. If you have experience with Media Temple and Drupal please send me an email and let's talk.

The Agonist is planning to upgrade its software from Drupal version 4 to Drupal version 5, on Christmas Day.

The upgrade is to improve site stability and security, and version 5 has a few new features as well.

Our team has been beta testing the new version, and it performs well.

The site may be down for a short while during the upgrade; we will keep you updated on its progress.

It's that time of year again. I cannot stress how important this survey is, especially in light of the fall in ads due to the end of the election season and the financial crisis. So, if you would prefer to not have me beg you for money when I am stuck in some Godforsaken jungle then please take the damn survey. (And click on the ads in the sidebar while you are at it.)

If you have taken the survey at another blog, do it again here. It's critical that everyone participate. We really need to have better than the 1% participation rate we had last year.

Please take our Blog Reader Project survey.

It'll only take a few minutes and I promise it won't hurt! If you are hesitant about privacy concerns, please don't be. It's 100% anonymous, unless you wish to disclose something.

So, ask yourself this question if you don't want to take the survey: do you want me to fulfill this year-long quest I've set out on or not? If you do, then please take our survey.

As suggested in this thread, the new forum on "getting through the tough times" is now here: Strategies for Coping With Recession, and we can tweak it depending on how it develops and what new forum tools there may be after the site upgrade.

Here is the list of Agonist Forums (you can also get to this list using the "latest: forums" link on your left sidebar menu.

If you are interested in our beta testing of the drupal upgrade please shoot me a PM or an email. We'd love to have your help. We're working on it now.

I've been getting a lot of emails lately from previous and current readers who've learned of plans to make the whole Isabella V story into a movie. I think it's only fair to add my two cents to the whole story at this point so late in the game. But I need to remind everyone of the ground rules I agreed to in the beginning when the story first landed, so to speak, in my lap. It was a difficult time for me and The Agonist back then. And when I started writing about Isabella my credibility was challenged, for obvious (and quite reasonable) reasons. (I hasten to add that the quality of work here since then speaks for itself.) The contact who first approached me about Isabella laid out the ground rules for me: that I would not betray her identity, first and foremost and that I would not betray the identity of the contact either. I will honor those rules until such time as Isabella outs herself, or is outed by someone else. I may have faults, but when I give my word, it sticks. But I am not bound, nor was I ever bound by any rule that said I had to believe the entire story. I think some portions of her tale might be true. But too much of it is too far fetched and the evidence I've uncovered--remember, I know who she is, who her 'families lawyers' are, etc. . . And there is too much that is too fishy for my taste. I always assumed it was a ploy of sorts, based on a kernel of truth, to get a book deal, or a movie and create some notoriety and/or celebrity for a wealthy, attractive young woman with a rather unpleasant family life and far too much money and time on her hands. A perfect plan to break out and make a name, so to speak, for herself. And I certainly sympathize with that.

More after the jump.

As we all deal with the loss of Rick Harrison, I find great solace in reading some of his past diaries. You can find the full list of them here. One of the qualities I loved most about Rick was that he was not dogmatic and had willingness, actually an eagerness to learn new things and have his own ideas challenged. It's my thought, perhaps a little vainly, that this is why he came and stayed here. That perhaps he found a community of like-minded people just trying to figure life (and politics) out.

My personal favorite will always be Friday Cat Slagging. Rick loved dogs, and loved teasing me and Tina about our love of cats and cute pictures of cats. Out of that good natured ribbing came Friday Cat Slagging, a collection of cat pictures designed to show cats in the worst possible light. Rick did it well and with panache. I'm not sure if we'll continue Cat Slagging in his memory or not, but I know this: Friday's around here won't be the same without him.

Rick's taste in music was wonderful. He seemed to love all kinds of music, adhering to the old adage that there are only two types of music: good and bad. His Saturday Night Jukebox posts will be missed as well. So will his recommendations. When I hear the Martin Sexton songs on my iPod now I feel a real tinge of loss and have a better understanding of Rick. If you ask me, he and Don were real soul mates when it came to music.

Rick loved his family and wrote about them often. This post on Dem nomination night, for his daughter, is especially poignant in light of his early passing. And this post was an Agonista favorite as well. One many of us could relate to, and one, once again, showing how much family meant to Rick.

But my personal favorite is this one. Humor, profanity and family all mixed together for the holidays. Rick, Godspeed my friend, we will miss you.

Add this to another long list of regrets in my life: not meeting my good friend, fellow musician and all around rock-solid human being, Rick Harrison.

I was notified just a few moments ago that Rick died a few days ago of a heart attack, 11/14/2008.

I cannot begin to share my sadness. Although I never met Rick, he was an indelible part of this site. We shared a lot of ups and downs in the last several years, personal, political and otherwise.

He was a good friend to all the editors here and one of the earliest, original members of The Agonist and had the best, most wicked sense of humor I've come across in a long time. He rarely wrote diaries, but when he did, they sang out with life and an affirmation that goodness was real and possible, that family and friends and song made life worth living.

I literally just found out a few moments ago and wanted to pass on the information.

I'll be posting some highlights from his diaries and thoughts from his family very soon. But for now, my heart and prayers are with the Harrison Family and his wife today. Rick was one of our own. One of the best, one of the good guys. And I will miss him, very, very much.

Other editors of the site and readers are welcome to add to this post their thoughts as well.

Update: I hate having to type this, but here is his obituary, please sign the guest book, and as Rick was in life, so he is in death, suggesting donations to charity in lieu of flowers. We really have lost one of our own. As the day wears on I realize just how much I will miss Rick.

Also see: Rick Harrison, 1952-2008: Best of Diaries

Hi, I'm here.....

I am a 42-year-old pagan, political, animal-loving, travel-geeking, writing, nurse. I'm also a mother. And an artist. And an historian. I am interested in too many things. No time in one life to do it all. I was an "Agonista" way back in the day, in 2003. Persistence and creativity has paid off, and I found my way back in, thank you very much. I have my own journal over at http://selenajade.livejournal.com/.

Blessed Be.

Did you know that The Agonist is divided into three parts? I say this because over the last few months we've had a significant influx of new readers. So, here's the grand tour:

One part is the Front Page, where you are now. But there are two other parts of the site that are equally important. First, there is the News Wire, where Tina, Raja, JPD, Nymole, Chickadee and many others cull the web for the world's most important and hard to find news. If you happen to find an article you think is worth passing on to your fellow Agonistas then by all means, head over there and post an excerpt. (Fair Use Rules apply here, no full articles.) In my opinion, if you are a global news junkie then the News Wire is the best place on the internets to get your fix. Please use the News Wire submission link for News Wire articles.

Second, there are the Diaries. Most of what you see on the Front Page comes from the Diaries. If you have something original to say, a story to tell, an anecdote to reveal, well, this is the place to do it. (Please use the Diary or Opinion submission link for diaries.) Now, while I personally frown on people posting just links to important stories, many do and that's ok. But what I'd prefer is for more people to write and contribute. All of our contributors and editors emerged from the diaries. So, if you are interested in being one or both, then start writing up some diaries and share. The more the merrier. And there are almost no subjects which are taboo, excepting porn and asking for donations it's pretty much a free for all. Hope to see more from you all in both places, soon.

One last thing: planning a trip somewhere in the near future, or getting ready to leave on one? Then please consider blogging about your trip in The Agonist Travel Journals Section, no matter where you are, Indianapolis or India. David Lublin has posted travel journals, Liquid will be posting from the Ukraine, or so he tells me, Numerian's daughter, Sondja, posted from Syria, and Brian Self has posted from Iran. And of course, I am posting from all over the place. So, please add your voice here too. Tell us about the world, or the USA, or where ever you are, even if it be Mars.