A Little Blog Maintenance
I have been doing a little fiddling with the blog, mostly in the far right column.- I have added a bunch of new blogs I have been meaning to add, including Camera Trap Codger, Prairie Ice, Dog-li-ness, Game Camera Photo Log, Shot-on-Site, EveryDogsBlog, A D.C. Birding Blog, Itchmo, Othmar Vohringer, Natural Patriot, Rigor Vitae, High Country News, 2Blowhards, Working Dogs for Conservation, Art of the Greyhound, James Swann's columns, Red State Update, the new link to Ted William's blog, and a link to a web site listing genetic diseases by dog breed. Check 'em out!
- I have broken the blogroll into sections, a bit like a restaurant menu, so folks can more easily find the types of topics they are interested in. That said, I encourage people to leave their orbits and wander; that's what life, the web, and a good forest are all about.
- I have added a blog search box on the right side. Actually I have added it twice to encourage folks to drill a bit. With 1,400 posts now on this blog, there is quite a bit unseen.
- I have added a widget that shows 80 random covers of good books. I will be adding more books, so there should be a permanently swapping cascade of covers for anyone looking for something decent to read.
- I have added a widget that shows that names the cities the last 10 blog visitors came from.
- I have made it easier to find a permanent link to each individual post -- see bottom of post, click on "permanent link," and then copy the URL at top into whatever. I have also added a "social book mark" link (whatever that is).
- Terrierman's Daily Dose is now available by email. Just type your email address into the little box below the header, "Subscribe to this Blog," in the sidebar at right, and you will receive each new post by email, complete with photos and hyperlinks.
- The Google folks reconfigured their algorithms about six weeks ago, and in that chaos the www.Terrierman.com web site (and quite a lot of others) got deleted from their index. We are now back on top as the number one listing under "working terriers," with a little over 1,000 visitors a day.
- I am still depressed that since April I have only had one reader from the countries of Tonga, Surinam, Libya, Vanuatu, Yemen, Samoa, Nepal, Lesotho, Laos, Somalia, Madagascar, Benin, and Paraguay. Where's the love? A hat tip to the freedom-loving people of New Caldedonia and the Faroe Islands, who managed to stop by 3 times and 2 times, respectively. I have mailed you your chickens, as promised, and I have put in a good word for you at USAID. And yes, I will post more dog recipies.
I have been doing a little fiddling with the blog, mostly in the far right column.
6 comments:
I was looking through that list of genetic diseases by breed. Based on the info provided it seems that if you were to pick a breed solely on the basis of health you would pick the Canaan Dog. Makes sense since it is recently derived from- and apparently largely unchanged from - the pariah dog that is the product of thousands of years of natural selection. Are there strains of any more popular breeds that are as healthy?
there is a long waiting list to use the computer in Somalia. With their 486 and dial up, the numerous pictures in your blog take forever to load. And not everyone in line is interested in terriers.
We're humbled and honored to be added to your blog list! Like you, I always start my day at Querencia. Then I look to see what fresh hell you've aimed at the AKC! ;) Frankly, I don't know how you find the time to create these mammoth, entertaining, (and informative) posts. You must be retired. One distinction, and it's rather important: Your link should read Shot On Site. Thanks again. Dan & Margaret
Woops -- Sorry about that D & M. My excuse is also an explanation; sleep disorders means I have the time to type (only a little of this rises to writing), but not necessarily the attention span or accuracy to do it very well. On the upside, it's a computer, which means I can correct my mistakes. and I've done that this morning :)
As to healthy pedigree dogs, they of course exist. It should be said that ALL dogs (like all animals) have diseases, illnesses, etc. and that the distinction of many AKC breeds is that they seem to speicalize in one (or three or or four) breed-specific diseases per type due to the proponsity for breeding (inbreeding) within a closed registry. Like any risk assesment situation, you have to look at the true incidence rates for each breed and disease, which can range from an astounding 50 percent for some to fractional, fractional percentages for others. Then, within each breed, you have to look at lines and sift through pedigrees to see if you can avoid pairing any recessive genes that might possibly be back there.
As to Somalia (and all the other impoverished nations mentioned), that was an attempt at a joke on my part. Not only do many countries not have good internet connections, and no interest in dogs (especially Muslim countries), the residents of these fine nations also tend to not speak English, often do not know how to read in their own language, almost certainly do not know how to type, and are even less likely to own and know how to use a computer. The exceptions to the rules often seem to be running email scams. And then, of course, you have a lot of countries that are very small to start with. Vanuatu? Faroe Islands? Uhhh, right. Who's got an Atlas?
Patrick
Patrick,
For what it's worth, I have refined (I hope) the name of my blog to "Southern Rockies Nature Blog."
The URL remains the same.
Thanks Chas -- Fixed it on the blog roll.
P
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