Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will see some wet snow with a high of 34. Sunrise is 7:14 AM and sunset 4:20 PM for 9h 06m 24s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.3% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1775, British troops and Loyalists, misinformed about Patriot militia strength, lose the Battle of Great Bridge in Virginia.
People who live in a place naturally think about that place, and that leads to thinking about the past, present, and future of that place. It also means, from blogging, to look back, around, and ahead. Blogging begins not with writing but with observation and reading. Words on a page or keyboard come much later.
There should be a method to writing about a topic, especially if that topic requires a lengthy project. Not every story or event can be addressed in a single post, but every post or lengthier project should have follow a method (especially the lengthier ones). See Steps for Blogging on a Policy or Proposal.
After reading and walking about and observing, topics come to mind. At first, one lists what’s on one’s mind. See What Ails, What Heals.
Afterward, only afterward, one asks: what would be the best way address these key topics, with what arguments and in what format? The arguments matter most, but the medium matters, too. How many posts? Are there new ways to display posts, as serialized parts of larger work embedded on a website? How much audio or video might be needed? It seems to me that a bit of innovation is in order.
There are weighty matters waiting to be addressed, and lengthy projects waiting to be accomplished. Twenty twenty-three beckons; she demands diligence, and diligence requires work. Good outcomes— better outcomes than otherwise — will come about if only we try.
Out of What Ails, What Heals this libertarian blogger has before him a plan for some projects ahead. How many of these topics would be a series of posts or something more requires some pondering, so to speak. Any list requires by addition a project on education (“A good high school education should prepare students to express themselves in standard spoken and written English, to grasp principles of math and science, and to understand the history and laws of our people. It is both false and wrong to say that this cannot be done, to ignore doing so, or to ignore explaining plainly how one is doing so.”)
In all this, there is always the sensible reminder that, at any moment, tragedy or triumph may intrude and demand new considerations.
December is a good month to get ready for January and beyond.
The world’s oldest DNA: Extinct beasts of ancient Greenland: