Photo provided by the awesome readers at Murdoc Online
Original Credit: Boston Herald
I regularly like to post stories about military bloggers in the news when they appear in my Google News Alerts. You know? Like when military bloggers get quoted by newspapers or news stations. So I’m pretty sure this piece of news is a first in the milblogosphere. Todd Kobus, who used to blog at lostiniraq.com, was arrested for tackling Junior Seau during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game. Not only did Todd leap over a seven foot wall, but he tackled one of the toughest NFL players in the league. If you ask me, Todd is pretty hardcore but not the sharpest tool in the box.
I mean, I’m almost 99% sure Todd would have had a better chance of wrestling a wild grizzly bear and winning than trying to fight Junior Seau. I'm still surprised we're not reading about the Football Stadium Cleaning staff sweeping up little Todd crumbs after attempting a stunt like this.
(The Sun Chronicle Online) "An
Todd Kobus, 31, of
The incident happened during the fourth quarter of Sunday's 47-7 win over the
Kobus was released on personal recognizance after being arraigned. Judge Warren Powers continued the case until Feb. 17 for a pre-trial hearing, according to the clerk magistrate's office.
Patriots spokesman Stacey James said the team has revoked the ticket Kobus used.
The newspaper profiled Kobus in a
At that time, Kobus, a National Guard intelligence specialist, was assigned to the 26th Brigade Combat team at
He previously spent most of a year in
Kobus became known locally for a military blog he wrote, lostiniraq.com. The site was packed with pictures, videos and irreverent humor, and was widely read among the military and their families..."
Read the entire story here from the The Sun Chronicle.
Webmaster Update 3: I just found some video of Junior Seau discussing the incident. According to a reader who commented on Murdoc Online: "Rumour on the Patriots Forums has it that the Cardinals front office was talking about bringing Kobus in for a tryout, since he seemed to be the only one able to tackle a Patriots player that day..."
Webmaster Update 2: LostinIraq.com is now offline, but you can still access the site via Archive.org.
Webmaster Update 1: Unfortunately, the Milblogging.com Blog Comments are
currently not working. It just leaves a blank comment. We're researching the issue right now. Thanks to Kathi for catching this. Honestly, it's actually a glitch, and not an evil plot to block snarky comments from certain readers. Anyway, I'll start researching this issue just as soon as I finish my latest enhancement: automatically deleting all comments from users where the first name starts with the letter "k". Coming Soon![ 2 comments ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Example of an Xanga Blog
I’d like to thank everyone who has been recommending inactive/obsolete sites for removal from the Milblogging.com database. There are several hundred sites in the database that no longer exist or have been inactive for years. Anyway, the glory days of leaving inactive or obsolete sites in the database are gone. Now that we’ve reached over 2,000 blogs indexed in the Milblogging.com database, we’re gonna start cleaning house so that we can improve things around here. Particularly with the Xanga.com blogs, there’s nearly a hundred listed that have been deleted by their owners or that are no longer active.
I don’t want to put down Xanga.com, but if you open up a Xanga blog, it’s like watching the blue screen of death. I’m assuming most of the Xanga users made the move to Facebook or Blogger. I’m not saying the Xanga design is the worst I’ve seen online, but I’ve seen better websites designed by a box of rabbits. In fact, I threw up once after eating at a buffet and partying all night, and I'm pretty sure my vomit was better organized than an Xanga website.
I’m just saying.
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In its editorial, “How to pay for a 21st century military,” the Times recommended the Navy eliminate one carrier strike group; cancel its planned Zumwalt-class destroyers; cancel all its Virginia-class submarines; and cancel the Marine Corps’ V-22 Osprey program. Its other recommendations included eliminating the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor and ending the missile defense program, part of which includes Navy warships.
Read the entire story here.
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Freddie Ward, pastor of Highland Park Assembly of God Church in Kilgore for almost 29 years, began writing daily in his first "YMCA Wartime Log" in October 1943, about three months after he bailed out of a plane shot down by the German Luftwaffe.
Read the entire story here.
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The book had been written first as a diary by Metodi Hadzi Janev, a professional soldier in the ARM, but was later transformed into a book.
The film has strong support among the
The focus will be on the Macedonian contingent arriving on Iraqi soil in 2003, with the time frame being from June 2003 to December 2003. During this period, the Macedonian contingent was engaged in half a dozen ferocious battles with Iraqi insurgents who had either cornered or surrounded US troops.
Read the entire story here.
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Back in 2006 I submitted Milblogging.com to Wikipedia and it was accepted. Since then, Milblogging.com receives regular traffic from Wikipedia. It took awhile for the site to be accepted, but after going back and forth with the folks at Wikipedia they finally agreed to list it. In fact, a lot of the "fat" I originally wrote, has been trimmed by their editors.
Now, if I remember correctly, if you plan to get listed on Wikipedia, you or your website have to be considered notable by Wikipedia’s standards. I have no idea what notable really means, nor do I care. But apparently Milblogging.com was notable enough to be accepted.
Getting coverage on sites like Wikipedia, BlogCatalog and others, certainly helps build steady traffic back here. So I suggest giving it a shot.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go bottle-feed some baby kittens that were abandoned by their mother. There’s even a baby squirrel in the litter that I rescued from the jaws of a wild bear. Anyway, I’m not just a military blogger, I'm also a humanitarian.
I can almost taste that 2008 Weblog Award.
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Thanks to Jakob, who has been keeping up his research on military blogs with polls, stories and more.
As you can see the rules are pretty self-explanatory for the CAC folks. The only point I kind of disagree with is # 4. Especially, if you're a grunt. It kind of defeats the purpose of being in the Infantry. I mean, the things I learned at
Pretty much creating the most awesomest phrase I've ever heard spoken by any human being. Shakespeare is a distant second.
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Read the entire story here.
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(Stars and Stripes) Christmas cards are often bearers of family photos and newsletters along with festive greetings. Some military spouses have found that a personalized weblog delivers family news all year long — and crosses one item off the holiday “to do” list.
“My Christmas letter turns into a New Year’s letter … then an oops-maybe-next-year letter,” said Air Force wife and family blogger Jen Parrott of
“I don’t send out a Christmas letter because I do regular updates on the Web site,” said Amy Beeman, an Air Force wife in
A blog also provides more space than one newsletter, said Hillary Baggett, a Marine wife in
Read the entire story here.
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What do you get the Milblogging.com Webmaster for Christmas? I'm sure many of you are asking yourselves. Well, if through some miracle I make the list of 'Best Mlitary Blog' Finalists in the 2008 Weblog Awards, you could always vote for Milblogging.com. But like most things in life, I don't always get what I wish for. Like last Christmas. I asked Santa to let me wake up at home with my wife and kids. Instead, I ate at a Chow Hall in the desert where I was greeted by two Kuwaitis holding hands and dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Both male.
I still don't know what was more disturbing. Watching Mrs. Claus pick his nose or going to the fixins' table and seeing a giant camel sculpture made completely out of butter wearing an elf hat.
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Picture of Lance Corporal William Walker
(Peterlee Mail) A DIARY detailing a brave soldier's life in the First World War trenches has been unearthed in pristine condition.
The First World War writings of Lance Corporal William Walker have now been printed in a book called My Experiences in the Great War after it was found in his daughter's loft.
The
At 20-years-old he left his job on
He returned home just months before the war's end in 1918 after being shot twice, with one bullet destroying his left bicep. He died, aged 82, in 1977.
Read the entire story here.
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(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Mr. Hill has a soft spot for those who defend the country.
Four years ago, Mr. Hill retired to
"I don't want them to think that the war or politics or celebrities is all they have to look at online," he said.
His posts always end with the encouraging and cautionary "Keep your head down."
Read the entire story here.
Check out his blog here.
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Read the entire story here and participate in the poll.
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Read the entire story here.
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Interestingly enough, he had been attached to a New York National Guard unit, but they are currently being replaced by the Illinois National Guard which includes Charlie Company from the Litchfield Armory.
"I heard a buddy I graduated high school with is either over here now or on his way," Petrosky said during a telephone interview last week. "I haven't been able to track him down yet, but I want to."
Lt. Petrosky regularly sends a blog entry to the newspaper's web site, www.thejournal-news.net. His next entry will be near the end of the year, describing how he and fellow troops spent Christmas.
Read the entire story here.
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Rory Fanning, a Chicago native, began his trek in September, walking a circuitous route from
Read the entire story here.
Track his journey across
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Read the entire story here.
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I turn my attention in this post to some things we should encourage Soldiers to blog about: what I’ll call “filling the gap.”
Read the entire story here.
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The scheduled Milblogging.com site upgrade that occurred this morning at
Bug Fix 1: Make Changes to a "Claimed Blog"
If you've claimed any military blogs indexed in the Milblogging.com database, you can now make changes to each "Claimed blog" and the changes will be instantaneously displayed on the website. This allows you to keep information about your military blog updated in the Milblogging.com database. You can modify information such as: Title, Description, Country, Language, Author, Branch, Gender, Feed Type, and Feed URL. Keeping your blog up-to-date in the database, helps Milblogging.com visitors improve their chances of finding the blogs that interest them. To make changes to a "Claimed Blog":
1. Sign in to Milblogging.com with your member information.
2. Click on the My Milblogs URL at top of the site.
3. On the My Milblogs page, scroll down to the "My Claimed Blogs" section and click the Title of "Claimed Blog" you want to update. The "Military Blog Profile" page will appear.
4. On the "Military Blog Profile" page, scroll down to the Actions section, and click Make Changes. The Manage Milblog page will appear, that allows you to make changes.
Bug Fix 2: Recommend Change/Recommend Removal/Contact Us
You can now recommend a blog that's listed in the Milblogging.com database for removal or you can suggest change. You can also send messages directly to the Milblogging.com webmaster using the Contact Us form. Now when you suggest a change, a removal, or send a message, we'll receive the information. Plus, when recommending a change, a removal, or sending a message, you don't have to be signed into the website. This allows anyone browsing the website, to quickly make a suggestion without being a registered member. As we continue to cleanup the database to ensure the information listed is accurate, we hope more and more users will begin using the Recommend Change and Recommend Removal form that's provided on each Military Blog Profile page. Keep in mind, you can make changes or remove a military blog if you've claimed the blog, otherwise, the Milblogging.com webmaster will complete changes that are received once they've been reviewed.
New Feature 1: FAQ Management System
The new FAQ page will be a topic based FAQ system, that will provide Milblogging.com users with answers to the most frequently asked questions. Over the next few weeks, we'll be adding questions/answers to the FAQ page using the new Administration system we have installed. This will make the website more user-friendly and should save you time and effort when trying to find the answer to a Miblogging.com or Military Blog related question.
New Feature 2: Milblogging.com Archive Explorer
The new Archive explorer provides visitors with better visibility into all the blog posts written on the Milblogging.com blog since 2005. The Archive Explorer is located on the Blog Archives URL at the bottom of every page. To view any historical posts, just click the month to display all posts written during that time period. Then click the title to view the entry.
Stay tuned for more information on other updates that were made.
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"Many of the people we're trying to reach no longer read the New York Times or watch "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning," said Col. Ed Thomas, PACAF director of public affairs. "Younger generations, both in and out of uniform, are far more likely to be texting, chatting, blogging or Twittering.”
So in September the command created its own blog called "PACAF Pixels." Unlike traditional military websites, the blog is designed to allow Airmen across the command to share, in a personal and authentic way, their service experiences, Col. Thomas said.
Read the entire story here.
You can check out the PACAF Pixels blog here.
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