Perhaps You’d Like…

Leave a comment May 19, 2021 Steve Wiggins

Back in the early days of the internet I recall wondering how it could be used for research. I was teaching at Nashotah House at the time and knew of no online resources that couldn’t be had in print. All of that has changed, of course, with the web becoming the collective brain of humanity. I tend to use it for research for my fictional tales. Need to remember a detail about some obscure location you once visited in Scotland? Check—either Ecosia or Google will take you right there. Memory problem solved. For some kinds of facts, however, it’s still a struggle. There’s the infamous paywall, for example. Your search brings you right to the info, but you have to pay for the privilege of reading it. Commercial sites require a subscription that, although it has a cancellation policy, you know you’ll end up paying for forever. University library websites are even more jealous of guarding their secret knowledge.

Fiction research often involves trying to find general information. What some specific object is called, for example, or whether there was actually a Burger King in the location about which you’re writing, at the time your story is set. Fiction writing is an exercise of the imagination, but verisimilitude can make all the difference. Just because it’s fiction doesn’t mean it can’t be factual. Here’s where another limitation arises. If your query can be commodified, it will. You’ll find yourself wading through pages and pages of vendors trying to sell you stuff, as if knowledge for knowledge’s sake is moribund. Even WordPress gets into the act. If your Premium plan fills up, you’re only option is to “upgrade” to Business or E-Commerce, where you make money on your account. (This blog remains free.)

I don’t make any money off this blog. I use it to share the little I’ve figured out by looking deeply at the world—quite often involving observations about religion or books—over half-a-century. Like many academics I believe knowledge should be free (ah, but they get paid for keeping it within the walls of the university with the occasional free cookie outside. Or better yet, a paying engagement). I don’t go to websites to be sold anything. I maybe want to remember what a Quisp box looked like in 1969 without wanting to special order a box. For sure, the web is a great place to buy the things you need. At times, however, all you’re looking for is information. At that point your price will be the time it takes to scroll through countless pages that assume you’re here to buy, not just to browse.

Look, New…

3 Comments January 10, 2021 Steve Wiggins

You may’ve noticed a new look to my website. That isn’t intentional. I woke up Friday only to learn that Word Press (which used to be friendly to individual bloggers) decided to change at least one of the few templates they allow paying customers to use (if I upgrade even more to “business class” I have lots more options). One of those templates happened to be the one I’d labored over, sacrificing an entire weekend about a year ago to get it just how I liked it. Now, I’m a Neo-Luddite. Behind the scenes my daughter and one of my nieces have helped me with technical aspects of this blog from the very beginning. Several years ago I reached capacity for the free service, where, understandably, templates are limited. Now I pay for both the domain name and the privilege of hosting it on Word Press. But they like to limit privileges to try to force you to upgrade. What would Amos say?

A few weeks back my iPhone began to lose its charge at an alarming rate. I’d unplug it, and, doing nothing but occasionally checking for non-existent texts, it would be red-lining a couple hours later. I feared I might need to get it serviced. This went on for several weeks. It occurred to me that Christmas was approaching and Apple has been known to slow down devices in order to encourage you to buy a new one. Upgrade! Everybody’s doing it! Well, I don’t make enough money to constantly upgrade, so I kept my phone plugged in all the time when I was home (which, during a pandemic, is pretty much all the time). Then, a few days after Christmas, when it was clear I wasn’t buying a new one, the battery began to hold its charge again.

The tech industry has us in a strangle-hold. As soon as you purchase that first laptop, tablet, phone, or smart-watch, you’re an indentured servant to upgrades. So I went to Word Press’s template library and tried to find something that didn’t look too bad with the images and “feel” I’m going for here. Almost as if they’d chosen an algorithm that made available only a handful of templates that worked worst with what I’m trying to do on this website, I found their selection extremely limited. If I upgrade to “business class” (which I will need to do when the capacity for my “service level” (not cheap) is full) I will have a plethora of choices. Until they add a new service level above that, that is. Then I’ll need to upgrade yet again to unlock all the neat features they “offer.” Thanks, Word Press. I’ve been with you over ten years now and I have to ask, is that the way you treat a longterm, paying friend?

Remember this?

Down the Road

1 Comment February 27, 2018 Steve Wiggins

First of all, thank you to my regular readers. I’ve been making daily posts on this blog since July 2009—nearly nine years of illustrated commentary. It seems, however, that I’ve reached my limit. My storage limit, that is, on Word Press. As a result I’m going to be upgrading my account. Now, I’m enough of a Luddite to be uncertain of how this might impact any auto-updates (I flatter myself to think there are some) or links to this blog. I’m planning on continuing Sects and Violence in the Ancient World, but it will be but one page on a website that will offer the opportunity for me to go into more detail about my books. I don’t know how it will look yet, but it shouldn’t be disappearing from cyberspace.

Timing, as they say, is everything. It’s never been my strong suit, however. My current book still has no final title, so it’s a little difficult to promote it properly. Oh, it’s finished, and in the hands of the publishers, and although I can give it its own page, I can’t really title it yet. Perhaps in the height of hubris, the new layout will have pages for my previous two books, A Reassessment of Asherah and Weathering the Psalms. These were both academic titles with very limited sales, but they represent a significant portion of my life and I’d rather not have them completely forgotten. My latest book is for a more popular readership, but I don’t have the platform to interest agents (not for lack of trying), so I’m incorporating it into a website that will allow for its self-serving promotion. So embarrassing. You can imagine how red my face must be.

By the way, there’s another book about half-written. (Actually, there are several, but this one looks like it might actually appear.) A new series has been announced—I’ll write about it once I learn if my proposal has been accepted—that follows my own aesthetic closely. In conversation with the series editors, I’ve put together a proposed book based on my current work. If it happens, a new page will pop up on this future website I’m envisioning. Since I’m no Luddite, I can see possibilities for these pages. The blog will continue with its daily babbling. I’ve been doing this so long I wouldn’t know any other way to start my day. Combined with the hubris of those who spend too much time in supernatural headspace, this could be interesting. If you’re search brings you to what looks like the wrong page, please persist. Sects and Violence will be only a click away.

Anything Free

Leave a comment October 30, 2015 Steve Wiggins

“Anything free is worth saving up for.” That’s a bit of wisdom I picked up some time ago. There’s another side to free, however. That other side is called the hook. So, I started this blog with the help of my niece, back in 2009. Word Press offered free web hosting and, at first, support. Nearly every single day for about six years I’ve been posting here. Well over half-a-million words offered, rent free, to the world. Lately Word Press is giving me trouble. Somebody’s system isn’t working well with somebody else’s (I’m having trouble loading pictures, for instance) and I have to login and post about three times per blog entry. It takes up most of my free time before the bus comes. Finally I decided to call for help. Scanning the website I learned that help is indeed available! Only for premium customer, however. If you want to pay, your free website will be available to the world. The hook.

I can’t remember exactly when things got cloudy. It was a laptop ago, in any case. Suddenly I was receiving emails about starting up my iCloud account. In fact, now your devices can’t communicate with each other unless you have an iCloud account. The benefits: it’s free. You can access your pictures, music, and documents on any device with the correct app. So I click “okay.” Anything free… Then I receive the dreaded red-colored alarm. My iCloud storage is full. Any attempted transaction will lead to the modern equivalent of Hell—data loss. There is a solution, however. If I pay for an upgrade I get lots more space an my files will be secure. Let the music play on. It will only cost you a song.

Examples could be multiplied. Since internet fame is the only kind of fame attainable to most of us—only if something goes viral—we buy our lottery tickets and stoke our social networks and write our blogs. Then the bill comes. Call me a curmudgeon, but I remember when you could lease a phone without having to take out a mortgage to afford the monthly bills. Bakelite was the old silicon. I remember when if you wanted to write someone a letter you knew up front it would cost you 13 cents. I remember when Blog was a radio station on the Twilight Zone. Don’t worry, I’m not planning to quit the blogging just yet. I do have to warn you though; it’s free.