If you’re a member of Claire’s Cabal and you haven’t stopped by the forums lately, I hope you’ll drop in and maybe stick around. Current doings: We’ve just opened the “Members Helping Members” section where cabalistas can offer their assistance on anything from transportation and relocation to their professional specialties. We’ve got several lively new discussions going on, from an easy-newsy one about the “Hamiltonian” electors to the quite deep topic, “The spiritual dimension of freedom.” We always have something going on about money (sound or unsound) and economics in Silver’s Corner. And there are several excellent recent threads on…
Category: Administrivia
We had our first snow last night. Didn’t amount to much. Barely stuck and was soon washed away by 35-degree rain. Only reason I mention it is because it’s the first lowland snow we’ve had in more than two years. It’s normal for us to get snow anywhere from one to five times a winter, but the last two winters have been too warm (not global warming but a big warm “blob” offshore). Very wet, but warm. Well, as winters go, anyhow. More snow expected in the next few days. Me, I’d chose warm and dry, were it an option.…
I don’t mention Claire’s Cabal much. But it seems time for a small update. First, we have a couple of public areas in the forum, to give a small taste. I’ve just posted a copy of this excellent article by Silver where anyone can see it. If you thought you knew every malign effect of the Federal Reserve, he describes one you probably hadn’t considered. Second, we’re in the process of starting up a “Members Helping Members” section where volunteers can offer assistance with anything from transportation and a place to stay to professional advice. Just announced it today and…
So. The idea came up yesterday of having the ability to upvote blog comments. Many times, after someone’s posted a particularly informative and well-researched comment — or a particularly pithy one — I’ve longed for the upvote button, only to be left with itchy fingers and no way of casting that vote. Turns out though, according to He Who Fakes It Well, that the upvote ability (upvotability?) is already built into one of our WordPress plugins and needs only be activated. The question is now: do you want it? If you say you do, it’s a simple matter of a…
If you’re a member of our sister site Claire’s Cabal, you probably just got an automated email about your membership. You can ignore that. It was the result of me trying to change all the free memberships from “unpaid” to “paid.” Didn’t realize that would result in an email blast to everybody! I also appear to have screwed up somehow, so that membership statuses may have changed. Don’t panic. And don’t think you’re suddenly a life member. 🙁 I did something wrong and have to figure out how to fix everything. Also, I just put up five new articles —…
I stole this from “my” F*ce*b**k page. Now you know of course that I don’t have a FB page. But this morning I awoke to an email from a friend thanking me for “my” new FB meme (above) and saying she’d been spreading it to her family members who’d been spreading it to other family members. And of course I’m going, “Whut?” Turns out there’s a fan page. I knew about that. But it had been inactive for a year or so and is now in full swing again. So thanks for “my” FB meme, Dan McCall (who seems to…
With MamaLiberty’s comment this morning on the “Trouble with Leaders” post, this blog has now had 35,500 comments (not including spam) in its 6+ years. Earlier this summer, Mas Ayoob at Backwoods Home proudly mentioned his 20,000 comments in eight years. I was waiting to spot a nice, round number here, but they’ve flown by so fast I’ve missed them until this morning.
Fewer than half the donors whose contributions made them eligible for free memberships have registered over at Claire’s Cabal. We had a gratifyingly lively beta-testing period, but most of the newcomers are being very quiet. How did such a smart, communicative bunch become so reticent? C’mon down, people! Check your emails from last Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. EZ instructions and free-membership coupon codes are in your mailbox. While you’re at it, dear readers, don’t forget that generous pay-it-forward donors (thank you, K, our latest) have funded 16 memberships for others who may not be able to afford it. Of…
And the new member site is (ta-da!) ClairesCabal.com. If you go there as a non-member, you’re going to wonder what the fuss is about. You’ll see one page. It’ll try to give you an idea what the fuss is about. But to see more, you have to become a Cabalista. All qualifying donors in the late fundraiser just got their invitations and free-membership coupons. Well, all but a couple. (SK, I don’t have an email address for you. Michael L, your email bounced. Anybody else didn’t get an expected invite, let me know.) So what’s Claire’s Cabal all about? The…
Thursday (Sept. 15) is the day for going live with the new member site. That morning I’ll send qualifying donors instructions and codes for free membership. Then the place will be open for paying members. Got another heavy work day on the retaining wall tomorrow. Although there will be other such days in the next week or two, Thursday was the most auspicious day to open the doors of the new operation.