Call for Weird Shit

The
aspect of the Great Experiment that deals with the factibility of living
a reasonably rounded digital life here on the beach in South America
has been running up against some serious trouble in  the form
of our super-slow internet connection. Maybe we have been spoiled
by five years of broadband, but it is maddeningly difficult to keep
up with our blogging and web mastering responsibilites.

Today, for example, we finally finished the web layout of the latest
edition of the engrossing economic newsletter we edit for an old buddy,
the KWR International Advisor. Sure,
we got it done, but it took at least three times longer than normal,
mostly in the form of one and two minutes
waits while web pages loaded and links were checked.  Every issue
of this digital publication contains at least 70 links, between titles
in the table of contents and the individual articles, between the list
of advertisers and their actual ads, between the ads themselves and the
forwarding pages, and then on to the destinations specified by the advertisers,
not to mention the links to external news sites and media highlingts. 

Of course, each link needs to be checked and double-checked (when dealing
in the ultra professional world of New York public relations, less than
100% functionality is not to be tolerated). When it takes a minute or two
to load each page, that means a complete link-check, which used to be
a 15 minute final chore, takes a couple of hours, at least.

The load-lag is a drag when blogging, as well.  Sure, we can still
access our wonderful Manilla site and write to our heart’s content, but
the serindipitous web surfing, tracking down stories and purusing hundreds
of sites and reading affiliated blogs, is impossible.  Cruising
for weird and idiosyncratic stories and photos is similarly out of the
question,
which
is why the Dowbrigade News has been leaning lately towards long-winded
prose and personal reflection.

For that reason, we would like to encourage and invite all of our readers
to send us stories, news links and photos you feel fall withing the parameters
of our eclectic interests.  Regular readers will recognize the kind
of weird, tasteless shit that rings our chimes. Should any of  you
feel so inspired, please drop a line to  Worth 1000