Day: February 23, 2006

Blogger Jason Kottke has given up on trying to make a living by blogging full time.

Kottke announced on Wednesday that he is no longer seeking payments from people who enjoy his blog, Kottke.org. He said he hasn’t managed to attract enough readers or developed “a sufficient cult of personality” to support the subscription model.

He also explained that he wasn’t able to keep providing the time and energy needed to make his blog successful enough.

“My (unstated) intention from the beginning was to approach the site as a start-up, but along the way, life intervened (in a good way), and I couldn’t focus on it as much as I wanted to. The site became a normal job, a 9-to-5 affair, which meant that I could keep up with it, but growth was hard to come by,” Kottke wrote.

Kottke made decent money, at least the first couple of months, but after that things got a little lean.

Kottke revealed on Wednesday that he had raised a total of $39,900 from 1,450 donors. Most of that was received in the initial fund-raising drive in February and March 2005, when his project began.

It’s unclear what Kottke will do next.

“In the short term, (the blog) is going to be taking a backseat to some other things going on in my life. Longer term, who knows? I might look for other ways to fund my efforts on the site, or maybe it goes back to being more of a hobby. But there will be posts and links and other things here almost daily, just like there have been for almost eight years now,” he wrote.

Let’s not kid ourselves – blogging takes a lot of time, not to mention commitment. What makes blogging even more difficult is the lack of payback, appreciation or even attention from blog readers. Often times, bloggers feel like they’re writing for themselves, a few friends and maybe mom. Other than that, bloggers gaze at their daily stats longingly, wondering who’s out there, when they’ll come back, and if they’ll stick around long enough to click on a sidebar ad.

But, we blog, constantly. We love it enough to show up every day, without fame and fortune. At least for now.

Cindy Sheehan’s not ready to retire her act just yet. She’s scheduled to bring her love to Germany next month to protest outside US military institutions. Sheehan and her entourage plan to construct another ‘Camp Casey’ style compound which will serve as temporary headquarters.

And how do the troops feel about a visit from Mother Sheehan?

“Anything I would have to say about her, you couldn’t print,” Army Staff Sgt. Mark Genthner said.

I would bet a majority agrees with Staff Sgt. Genthner.

Tell us again how you support the troops, Cindy.

Wow, that was fast. British cops arrested a man and a woman today in connection with that huge armed robbery. While the figure has changed depending on which report you read, the latest amount of stolen loot stands at 50 million pounds, or roughly 87 million US dollars.

“These arrests are a positive development in the early stages of our investigation,” Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Leppard said, adding the Kent force had already received more than 400 calls from people offering tips.

The robbery bore striking similarities to a 2004 robbery in Northern Ireland. Police blamed criminal gangs – not terrorists – and said the hunt continued for the other men.

“This is organized crime at its top level. This was planned and executed with military precision,” Leppard said of Wednesday’s heist in the sleepy market town about an hour’s drive from the Channel Tunnel, which separates England and France.

Just like a Hollywood movie.

The heat remains on high. Members of Congress have stepped up the pressure as the White House continues to defend its decision to allow a UAE company to takeover significant US port operations.

President Bush made the following comments today at the conclusion of a cabinet meeting:

“People don’t need to worry about security. The more people learn about the transaction that has been scrutinized and approved by my government,” Bush said, “the more they’ll be comforted that our ports will be secure.”

In order for more people to learn about the facts in this matter, the Bush administration will have to put itself a step ahead of the media. So far, they’ve been unable to do so as each day has brought more reactive responses rather than proactive.

Joe Gandelman has more.

Following the bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine, gunman shot 47 civilians, adding to the death toll since yesterday. So far, at least 111 people have died. This is a bad thing getting worse by the second.

I can’t help but wonder, what do we do now? The US definitely doesn’t want to be in the middle of a civil war. The big question is, are we witnessing just another short lived uprising or has a genuine civil war begun?

Iraq The Model is following the developments.