I’ve had most of the blogs hidden for a long time now, but now I just exported all of the posts into .XML files and subsequently deleted them on each blog. I now have a total of four blogs completely empty of content. I now want to vanquish them from my reach. Lets call it a digital mind cleansing.

But I don’t want destroy anyone’s chances of getting a WordPress.com blog URL they may want. Despite the amazing advancements in blog and CMS technology, the best free blogging service on the Internet still can’t figure out how to let you delete a blog and let someone subsequently use the domain. Once you delete a WordPress.com blog, it is gone and forever out of reach. I’ve made that mistake before and I won’t make it again.

That’s why I’m making this post: to inform prospective owners about the WordPress.com blogs I’m trying to rid of. The last thing I want to do is throw them into the permanent abyss.

Without further ado, here are the WordPress.com blog addresses I’m giving away. Leave a comment with which blog you want, if you so desire.

Blogs:

• soloudinhere.wordpress.com
• swordofdiscourse.wordpress.com
• thesubengy.wordpress.com
• mainegeek.wordpress.com

If this happens and causes the video game industry to grow in New England, I would freak out. It would also make freelance video game journalism more viable in the area.

Through spokesmen and in several in-person interviews, LePage denied Olsen’s remarks. On Thursday, he accused reporters of not seeking his side of the story.

“The press, you folks, ran out and wrote all these articles and you never once called us and checked,” LePage said. “Now, I never said that I wouldn’t work with the city of Portland.”

MaineToday Media reporters tried repeatedly to get comment from LePage or a member of his administration when Olsen resigned but were told by a spokesman that no one was available. Requests for an interview the next day with LePage at a public event in Dover-Foxcroft were denied. Other Maine news outlets on Thursday also reported seeking comment.

via LePage assures mayor he’ll support Portland, slams ‘dishonest’ press | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram.

So, I am leaving, not for health reasons, and not to spend more time with my family, and not to pursue other interests, which are all the commonly used themes for such resignations, but because this administration is more interested in pacifying special interest groups than in responsibly managing Maine’s marine resources for the benefit of the entire state. I cannot be part of that. The legacy of my fishermen father, grandfather and great grandfather will not allow it.

via Olsen releases statement on resignation | The Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME.

Read the full story here.

I’m disappointed in June’s feature article on John Crosby. While every person deserves some kind of forum in which to describe their own perceived injustices, as an interviewer you merely hit the record button and said, “Speak.” Rather than a true exploration into the lead-up and fallout of a federal crime, it seemed it was Mr. Crosby’s chance to tell the world that it was never really him steering his life’s course — that it was “them” and “they” who’d done him wrong.The real story was never contained in the folks who convinced him it would be easy to rob a pharmacy, or the advisors who encouraged him to seek work at the shipyard, or even the original baddies who did drugs around him.

I guess I wanted a push for even a small shred of accountability. Am I naively looking for real understanding and resolution from a desperate and miserable man? Perhaps.

I would hope that you, as an esteemed journalist, would pull a few layers back for those of us not in the room. I feel your readers have missed the chance to hear answers to questions such as: “You’ve repeatedly used unaccountable and deflective language concerning many choices you’ve made. You say your violent e-mails were ‘construed as a threat,’ you ‘regret that that was taken literally’ and, perhaps most alarmingly, when speaking about the targets of these threats, ‘they should be in jail.’ Isn’t the point that you emphatically threatened the bodily safety of two persons?”

Or maybe you could have tactfully asked for Mr. Crosby’s thoughts on the hypocrisy of his ideas about Americans who “fuckin’ poison themselves to death” and his eschewment of government and the military-industrial complex while voluntarily cashing their checks?

It seemed obvious that his most sacred attachment was to his son and daughter. Why not follow up on the comments concerning his desire to “teach them and guide them through this fucking horseshit”? Without patronization, you could have asked him what words he’d choose to someday explain to his daughter how he’d told a woman that she’d be “raped, beaten, tortured, and murdered very soon.”

Interviewing a subject with a wealth of knowledge and an eagerness to articulate it, this article had the nascent ability to illuminate so much more than just anecdotes from a narrow and narcissistic outlook on macroeconomics. I wanted more. I didn’t want John Crosby’s fucking excuses. The real story I saw shimmering just beneath the printed pages of The Bollard never materialized.

—Carlin Whitehouse, Portland

via Letters (The Bollard).

I think this interview would have done better if it was published in a weekly publication because there could have been more context and analysis added in the coming weeks. Instead, The Bollard gives us their final word on Crosby by giving him the soapbox where he tells us “how things are.”

I don’t mind the fact that the game has a story to tell — I prefer games that do, in fact — but it’s infuriating to be an onlooker when you’re supposed to be a part of it. I don’t mind being led to make choices that are necessary to move the game along, but only if I get to make the choice.

via Why L.A. Noire Fails as a Game (GeekDad Weekly Rewind) | GeekDad | Wired.com.

I loved playing L.A. Noire, but this was definitely one of the biggest flaws of the game. The game, itself, has more control over the protagonist than the player did. Where’s the fun in that?

Hooray!

Cisco Systems, one of the largest makers of set-top boxes, said in an e-mail that they would offer some new models this year that would cut consumption by 25 percent “through reduced power used in ‘on’ and standby states.” There will be no deep sleep or fully “off” setting.

via Atop TV Sets, a Power Drain That Runs Nonstop – NYTimes.com.

And companies refuse to do this because it’s inconvenient for the customer?

A great piece of video game journalism that should terrify the bejesus out of young game developers.

As the article indicates, the mess of L.A. Noire’s development was mostly a result of bad management. How could you have such a huge turnover rate over the years and keep the same management style? If I was working at Rockstar, I would oust McNamara and find someone who valued their employees more.

At the very least, L.A. Noire was good, for the most part. It had its pitfalls (the ending, intentionally misleading cases), but overall, I had a great experience with the game, as it was unique and executed certain aspects very well.

But here’s a questions gamers should ask: if an anticipated game is a product of mistreated peoples, should we buy it? It’s the same question we ask in regards to clothes available at Wal Mart, Gap, and anywhere else that uses sweatshops that pay a penny an hour with terrible work conditions.

It’s a tough issue, because I enjoy great entertainment. But hearing stories like this make me cringe. Hundreds of developers haven’t even been credited for this game. Maybe instead of boycotting the game’s underlying issues by refusing to purchase the product, perhaps we should just continue this conversation and make sure this issue doesn’t evaporate until it’s resolved.