The Sheepcat

What Happens After You Press the Button to Publish

Wired presents this whiz-bang flowchart of the life cycle of a blog post.

Link via Penmachine.

Stained Glass and Stimulating Swordplay

I'm partial to stained glass, so these pieces by Francis Beckwith's wife, Frankie, tickled my fancy.

Link via What's Wrong with the World, a blog I've been reading with interest lately. Home to some very smart philosophically trained minds including good ol' Zippy Catholic, whose personal blog I visit from time to time, and the formidable Lydia McGrew, who describes "blogging in defense of conservative and unfashionable political positions" as one of her hobbies.

Let the Games Begin

I'm relaxing this blog's comment preferences so that readers can now post a comment without first having to sign in to a TypeKey account. I didn't think this was such a huge barrier, but one reader has begged to differ, and I have to admit I haven't been getting a whole lot of comments here. (So I do really appreciate my regulars in the combox, including Vox, Puff and Bear, Shelray, Onionboy, Deborah, StatGuy, Belinda, Warren, felix hominum, and Maggie.)

Hopefully (Yes, Miss Thistlebottom, that's a sentence adverb--do you have a problem with that?) my correspondent will be right and the change will encourage a few more people to put in their two cents' worth. To encourage people to read whatever comments are posted, I've added a sidebar listing recent ones. So please jump in!

For what it's worth, I've also added a Feedburner feed--we'll see how useful this turns out to be.

The only hurdle now for people who want to comment is the CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) for users who haven't authenticated themselves through TypeKey. Personally I dislike the CAPTCHA that TypePad uses, because I have to squint to figure it out and it's not at all unusual for me to get it wrong and have to try again. (Is this because I'm a proofreader and my brain works funny? Don't answer that.)

Meanwhile, I'm pondering quite what purpose I want this blog to serve. Since May 2005 when I started posting as a Catholic-curious Baptist, The Sheepcat has evolved in content and tone. Aside from the obvious fact that I'm now Catholic and cannot imagine leaving the Church, it's hard for me to say from up close which of the shifts are permanent and which will turn out to have been cyclical.

One reader writes of the content here: 

Sometimes it's informative, sometimes it's grating, and sometimes it's just downright scary to see how extreme your views can be. At least it's seldom dull!

And a blog should never be dull. So towards that end, dear readers, please do tell: What would you like to see more of (my time and energy permitting)? What leaves you indifferent? What should I keep on doing?

One final thing: the tagline, "Sniffin' around to try to please the Good Shepherd," dates back to the earliest days of the blog, when I really wasn't sure where this blog was headed. Since JPII's death in April that year, I'd thought there was a good chance I might become Catholic, but I wasn't ready to commit yet. I was still searching around pretty eclectically for whatever might prove edifying. Having discovered just how wide and deep Catholicism really is, I don't feel as much need to look outside its visible confines as I used to (though I still faithfully read several excellent non-Catholic blogs). And some clearer focus on Catholic renewal has emerged, though the blog is still a bit of a grab bag and likely to stay that way.

Anyway, for a while now, that tagline has struck me as kind of feeble, so suggestions to replace it would be welcome.

New Toronto Catholic Blog

Toronto has a new Catholic blog that promises to be faithful to the Magisterium as it surveys liturgy, education, and parish life in the Diocese of Toronto. It's off to a good start with an interesting sketch of the arrival of Irish Catholics en masse in the 1840s.

Link thanks to Vox Cantor and The Spirit's Sword, a couple of my other local regular reads.

The Tumbleweed Rolls

Anyone who's been watching this space lately will have noticed the tumbleweed blowing through. I'll say just that various situations have been weighing upon me, and that spiritual battles have left me weary. Your continuing prayers would be appreciated.

Late last week, I decided I needed to clear my mind, so I took up the kind invitation of friends in Edmonton to visit for a few days. I met some converts and enjoyed an evening's conversation with felix hominum (though regrettably I still have not ridden in the blessed minivan--next time). I'm feeling a little better now.

On another note, Fr Jim Tucker of the admirably quirky and irenic Dappled Things has concluded it's time for him to give up blogging. To everything there is a season, I suppose, but I will miss seeing new posts from him.

Sed Contra Has Been Archived

I've saved most of the content from David Morrison's blog, Sed Contra, which he took down nearly two weeks ago for personal reasons. No, he isn't going to give up the Catholic thing, move to Massachusetts, and "marry" Dan; it's that his mother is seriously ill, and he was finding the blog a distraction from important matters closer to home.

Sed Contra was a terrific resource and online community for discussing same-sex issues, a place where people still identifying as gay could ask questions and be accepted, as the Catholic Catechism demands, "with respect, compassion, and sensitivity."

Anyway, if you're looking for Sed Contra, you may find bits of it still hanging around in search-engine caches, and I know of at least one other blogger who has reposted (with David's permission) some material from it. I'm hoping, though, to eventually put up the whole shebang, or close to it. This will probably be through one of the free blog hosts rather than TypePad, so it can stay up permanently with no maintenance cost. Please check back in a while (and no, I'm not going to be any more definite about timing than that).

And keep David in your prayers, please. He has served honourably indeed.

Blogger on the Mend

Early in July I asked for prayers for blogger Derek K. Miller of Penmachine, who was going in for major cancer surgery. Well, he's come through it really pretty well, despite a few setbacks, and is back to writing about techno-doodads. And he and his wife just celebrated their twelfth wedding anniversary.

Meanwhile, his dad has posted some cool astronomical stuff. I've seen the Perseids sometimes when I've been up at music camp in the Laurentians.

Marie-Reine-du-Monde

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of meeting Fr Tom Dowd of Waiting in Joyful Hope at the rectory of Marie-Reine-du-Monde, the Cathedral-Basilica of the Archdiocese of Montreal.

Before midday Mass in the cathedral I bumped into pro-life walkers from Crossroads, whom I'd met a week earlier, much closer to home, at a fundraising dance for Toronto Right-to-Life. These young people have been walking from Vancouver to Ottawa since May to raise awareness of the right to life of human persons from the moment of conception.

And while I was waiting for Fr Tom, I struck up a conversation with someone who turned out to be a friend of the Toronto Oratory from its Montreal era. Small world.

I could get used to being on vacation. I sure hope I do, in fact--it's been too long since I had an extended break. This week I'll sing my little heart out at music camp in the Laurentians and hopefully face no decision more difficult than what to eat for breakfast.

And I'll have no Internet access for a week--hurray, cold turkey'll do me good! See you soon enough.

I'm 71% Addicted to Blogging

Just like Joseph. Or so says this quiz.

71%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

P.S. Nice try , Mingle, but I'll omit the ad you packaged with the cute graphic, thank you very much.

Prayer Request

A fellow editor, Derek K. Miller of Penmachine, faces major surgery tomorrow for metastatic colorectal cancer. He doesn't believe in that religion stuff and doesn't want the pity of people who do, but I ask you to spare him a prayer please. He's a techno-geek and blogger and drummer and husband and father.

Update: Derek's father reports that the operation went well. He will be providing regular updates on his own new blog.