Here are 3 links from my blog roll:

Miscellanies – Tony Reinke’s blog.  This is a great new discovery, a pretty good blog talking about literature, theology, and other related topics. I found out about Tony when I watched a Gospel Coalition video interview of him regarding his new book, Lit!. He works for C.J. Mahaney. Surveying his recent posts, you will find him talking about the Puritans, his new book, P.G. Wodehouse, Bavinck, Homer, C.S. Lewis, etc. I was downright impressed by the interview, and am thankful to have found this.

The Art of Manliness – This was a great discovery quote some time ago.  It’s run by Brett and Kate McKay. I found it back when I was listening to the Boundless Show and they did an interview. It’s a really wonderful site–the title is sufficiently descriptive. You will find information about classic shaving, how to parallel park, how to dress well, facial hair, etiquette, biographies and information about great men, etc. Some of it is downright hilarious, but most of it is just seriously neat and helpful.

DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed – This is the blog of Kevin DeYoung. I discovered Kevin through two of his books, Just Do Something (about God’s will) and Why We Love the Church (about the church and “organized religion”). Kevin is a pastor in Michigan and is really quite solid.  He posts some great spiritual articles and his Monday Morning Humor is often really quite good. However, his Book Briefs are my favorite (unfortunately he hasn’t done any of those since early August).

Here are 5 links from my blogroll.

• UsOfEh – Though I am thoroughly biased, I love this blog. “An American Girl Living Life In The Country To The North”. When she actually gets around to posting (she hasn’t posted since July), she comes up with fantastically fun descriptions of things she’s done, with photos. I am thoroughly blessed to be involved in building a life and a home with her!
• Puritan/Reformed Sermon Narrations – This is a new link in my blogroll. Thomas Sullivan records MP3s of various old Puritan/Reformed writings. (This is an endeavor I’ve started lately, but Thomas has been doing it for a LONG TIME and has a fantastic array of audio resources available on his site).
• Pondering Christ.  Matt is my friend, a fellow church member, and former co-worker. He’s passionate about the gospel, Christian theology, and as a former Jehovah’s Witness, he posts a lot of apologetic items in that direction.
• RearViewMirror.  Ian is a friend of mine, and he stood with me in my wedding. And my brother stood in his wedding too. He’s lived here in the Windsor area for a large part of his life and has interned at my church. He’s currently stationed in Toronto and is at New City Baptist Church.  He’s a father of two. He mainly posts about theology and politics, though you will often find him posting things about music, literature, and other random subjects. We share a crazy amount of common interests. He’s the review editor of Hope’s Reason, has a master theology and a master of divinity from Toronto Baptist Seminary.
• Unhappy Hipsters.  This site is a subtle sort of funny. It’s basically a blog expose of hipster architecture and interior (and exterior) design. Each post shows a picture and then they make up a caption for it, often poking fun a the existential loneliness or pretentiousness of certain design decisions. Everyone who is building or designing or renovating a house should be forced to read (and understand) at least 15-20 posts on this site. Beware, if you don’t catch subtle things very easily, you may find yourself saying “Huh?” It’s sarcastic and pessimistic, but it does a fine job of exposing certain postmodern pretensions.

I’ve made a page which will be the consolidated location for all my audiobook recordings. It is http://www.allthingsexpounded.com/audio-book-recordings/

Here are some interesting blog stats over the course of August 28, 2010 – August 28, 2011.

Most Commonly Viewed Posts

1. “The Best Gaddafi Quotes” (this one is super active… over 2X the amount as #2)
2. “Epistle to the Colossians Resources Online”
3. “S. H. Froehlich on Predestination”
4. “The ACC Journal of Theology: Online”
5. “The Color Red in the Bible”
6. “Django Models and Inheritance”
7. “Epistle to the Romans Resources Online”
8. “Epistle to the Philippians Resources Online”
9. “Flannery O’Connor on Ayn Rand’s Fiction”
10. “Some Of My Favorite Lines From The Zion’s Harp”
11. “Four Puritan Quotes Worth Pondering”
12. “Legendary Goldthorpe of the Minnesota Fighting Saints”

Top Referrers (sites that have sent traffic to my blog)

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. ianhughclary.com
4. My website
5. weswhite.net
6. windsoressexspeak.ca
7. google
8. usofeh
9. My old blog
10. reformedbaptistfellowship.wordpress.com
11. yahoo mail
12. ordinarypastor.com
13. sovereigngracesingles.com
14. google reader
15. ponderingchrist.blogspot.com
16. My librarything profile
17. aol search
18. canonwired.com
19. planet.wuug.org
20. incredimail search

Top Search Engine Terms

1. gaddafi quotes (super active, 4 times higher than #2)
2. samuel froehlich
3. gaddafi quotes 2011
4. mark rudd
5. programming pearls sort million numbers
6. the color red in the bible
7. the byrds
8. flannery o’connor ayn rand
9. puritan quotes
10. traever guingrich

Most Commonly Clicked “Exit Links”

1. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 1 Issue 1 (PDF)
2. The Writings of Samuel Froehlich (PDF)
3. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 3 Issue 2 (PDF)
4. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 2 Issue 2 (PDF)
5. IVP Commentary on Colossons (link to Bible Gateway)
6. Harfe and Heft Blog
7. Calvin’s Commentary on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians
8. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 2 Issue 1 (PDF)
9. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 5 Issue 1 (PDF)
10. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 2 Issue 3 (PDF)
11. My Amazon.ca wishlist
12. Awkward Family Photos website
13. Truth for Life Resources on Colossians
14. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 2 Issue 4 (PDF)
15. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 3 Issue 1 (PDF)
16. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 4 Issue 1 (PDF)
17. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries – Colossians and Philemon (PDF)
18. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 4 Issue 4 (PDF)
19. UsOfEh Blog
20. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 4 Issue 2 (PDF)
21. Nick Steffen’s blog
22. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 4 Issue 3 (PDF)
23. Spurgeon’s Commenting and Commentaries on The Apostolical Epistles
24. FPC Jackson sermons on Colossians
25. Kevin DeYoung’s Blog
26. Pondering Christ Blog
27. Colossians: Background and Analysis by Matt Miller
28. Berkhof’s Introduction to the New Testament – Colossians
29. ACC Journal of Theology Volume 3 Issue 3 (PDF)
30. Desiring God – Resources on Colossians

Conclusions

If I were to take this as an indication of what I should talk about (I’m not going to, but just “if”), I would talk about

• Gadhafi’s Quotes
• The Epistle of Colossians
• ACC History/Theology
• And maybe, secondarily, a bit about the puritans, other books of the new testament (besides Colossians) the byrds, and django.

1. In most cases, each individual post you make is less significant than you think it will be, but usually the overall significance of your blog (the aggregate of all the posts together) is more significant than you think it will be.   Its not hard and fast rule, but I’ve just noticed that it has been true in a variety of contexts.
2. Most bloggers think what they are writing is more significant than it actually is. So, ideally, you need to have a sense of humor and not take your posts too seriously (though you should be thoughtful about them too). This over-inflated sense of importance is often encouraged by things like blog rolls, statistics, linkage, and comments. All of these are helpful, but sometimes they just turn into big “pats on the back” that make us think we are making an impact. Keep in mind that people nowadays will rarely remember a great blog post for more than a day. One book is a flash in the pan compared to all the books that are out there, and so, keep in mind there are way more blog posts than there are books. Try to be realistic about what you are doing. It’s probably not going to change anything, and likely only a few people will read your post (and out of the few that do, 80% will disagree with you).
3. Set clear boundaries about what you will and won’t write about. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot.  If you have to talk about someone else, as much as possible, stick with ideas. If you are a Christian, at times you may make critical comments about ideas or public statements. However, don’t regurgitate church or personal disputes (we see a sad example of this with the plethora of websites and blogs that have the sole purpose of bringing specific accusations and grievances about specific well-known Christian personalities).  Remember, discipline and the authoritative declaration against heresy is in the hands of the CHURCH, not BLOGS. Don’t fall into a bitter, jaded cycle.  Furthermore, keep in mind that, while a blog is a good place to discuss that certain things, other things are best left to other avenues.  Sometimes it may seem like a fine line, but even common sense (let alone Christian discernment) should make the general principles evident. I think one of the biggest blindspots of Christian bloggers (in which I am included) is just the basic discernment of knowing what is appropriate to talk about and what isn’t.
4. I believe that when  a blogger becomes a zealous controversy-blogger or a zealous church-expose blogger or a zealous heresy-hunter blogger they are basically inflating their sense of importance and exhibiting a bizzare form of exhibitionism.
5. If you find yourself venting, find a way to cool off first and put the subject off for a while to rethink it and reevaluate your attitude.
6. Don’t burn out, slow your pace if you need to.  If you think you have to keep up a pace, read point #2.
7. The experimental form of writing and the immediate distribution and the very fast feed back loop and low cost of entry to writing are your friends! Think of it like a cheap digital camera. It doesn’t make you a good photographer (writer), but its a great way to experiment.
8. Trending topics (topics of the week, or perhaps of the hour?) are overrated.  Of course, no writer is going to bury his head in the sand and ignore what is going on around him. On the other hand, though, I believe there’s something to be said for having a large percentage of timeless content. Trending topics tend to be regurgitated to the point of–regurgitation. You may have something meaningful to add, but probably not. Be relevant, but don’t degenerate into fad-ism and celebrity-worship. I think of trending topics like the wave at a baseball games, except nobody is far back enough to enjoying seeing the actual wave, they just see a bunch of people lifting their hands around them and feel the pressure to do so.
9. Maintaining an ideal balance between specificity and generality in a personal blog is next to impossible. Maybe its better if we just give up on that idea, and just start writing–not picking a theme, but rather having a variety of themes that interest us at various times.
10. Tone is an often forgotten aspect of blogging.
11. In most cases, blogging inherently encourages picking quantity over quality.  If you take a long time to write a long and polished post versus a short brief post, you will rarely be rewarded for your efforts. The longer your post, less people will read it.  This contributes negatively to the writing quality (and the originality of blog posts). I think it may be one of the reasons why trending topics are so popular… it’s easier to take a pre-scripted news item and link to it and have a few quick words than to write a thoughtful post of your own.
12. Unless you specifically take efforts to avoid it (and if you have a certain type of personality) your blog will become an insta-soapbox very quickly. I think it may be something about the whole way blogging is traditionally structured, it makes a really good soapbox. But that doesn’t mean you are a good or interesting soapboxer.
13. The noise-to-content-ratio on blogs is high. There are ways you can narrow your attention, but there is still a lot of chaff. Blog reading is sort of like chaff-sorting. Even though the other stuff can get really distracting, there really is a lot of good stuff there.

Readers of All Thing Expounded (if there be any such beings), what do you think of the new look?

(The background, by the way, is from Negril, Jamaica in case you are curious :>)

I must ask for your forgiveness, readers, for the excess of spam that has been gathering into the comments on my blog. If you’ve done more than just quickly glance over my blog, you’ve probably noticed many posts with hundreds of comments, and anyone who knows my blogging knows it normally doesn’t provoke hundreds of comments. As compelling as I am, I’m not that compelling.

It’s been getting progressively worse, and finally I’ve enabled some more advanced filters in hopes that it makes a significant improvement. It appears to be working very well so far. I’m looking forward to a more pain-free WordPress existence from now on. Of course, the filters only eliminate spam from now on, but I will be going through my blog archives and eventually will eliminate all previous spam.