Back in the closing days of the last century, roughly a Spartan military unit of us tried our hand at this little thing called “blogging.”

One of those brave souls, who persists to this day, is Sean Hackbarth, the author of “The American Mind.” Now, Sean is clearly a bullshit artist and a suck-up where he claims to have been inspired by yours truly, but let the record show that new media was not always the province of the liberal; even in the early days of blogging there were guys like Sean giving the viewpoint from the right-of-center. (He’s so good, I once even handed him the keys to my own site.)

Five years ago, Sean said “Five years from now, I can see myself still posting, still commenting on political economy, sports, music, and whatever catches my eye.” Well, he still is, and five years from now, I predict he’ll still be at it. Happy tenth, Sean, and may the next decade be good to you.

A good friend of mine has started blogging about politics. His site? Keep 1600. Only a few posts are up now, but it looks like the bug has bitten him hard.

So how come I never met this guy? He lives in Florida, is an FSU fan, a Mac user, and a Halo player. I’m sure we’d get along famously.

My Orlando friends have some ‘splainin to do.

RIAA Keep your Hands Off My iPod by (_nickd)

By the way, the site that led me to the previous post is a pretty good read if you’ve got a law degree and a strong sense of sticking it to The Man. Recording Industry vs The People chronicles all the pending court battles, the tactics, and the players involved when the music cartel sues another dead woman, or a disabled man, or a technologically clueless single parent. They trumpet the victories, lament the losses, and help point the way to freeing the earth from the scorched-earth litigation tactics of this dying conglomerate. Worth a read even if you don’t have a law degree.

I’ll let Matt say it:

I recently realized there are a lot of people trying to make a living from blogging but there aren’t a lot of sites with basic business advice for people doing it. I figured maybe it’d help some people out if I wrote up how to find a good accountant or lawyer, when to start a LLC, and how best to manage advertising.

I’m going to be sharing the things I’ve picked up along the way here, with a new essay posted every Monday week about some aspect of doing business online. If you’re a freelancer hoping to someday ditch your clients, just starting out with a web business, or already have an established blogging empire, I hope you’ll subscribe to the feed and enjoy the ride.

There’s just a handful of entires so far, but what’s there is quality. I’ll be following Matt’s observations closely. You should too.

Christine wants to be number one again.

As part of the Perpetual Beta Blogrolling Project, I’m pleased to announce that today’s featured blog is the Illinois Trial Practice Weblog, run by blawger and alleged Illinois trial attorney Evan Schaffer.

ITP is primarily useful for those who find themselves in a My Cousin Vinny-like situation in downstate Illinois: rules of evidence, courtroom demeanor, and dealing with obstreperous judges. (Spelled that one right on the first try! Go me.) But may also it may benefit to those who are not in Illinois, not on trial, and have never practiced for anything. It’s chock full of generic how-to’s and how-not-to’s, like this tip on How To Track Changes in MS Word. Note that you don’t even have to be a lawyer to understand or apply that — it means Evan’s probably talking down to you.

So if you’re a lawyer, from Illinois, and you’re in the courtroom on a regular basis, ITP should be on your regular reading list. If you’re a vacuum-cleaner sales rep from Topeka, it should be on your reading list too, just in case you ever find yourself in Kankakee on trial for shooting a convenience store clerk.

From the “mailbag” that is my comments feed:

Hey there!
My website includes a link to yours within my list of Tampa Blogs:
http://sticksoffire.com/about/tampa/blogs-more/
Would you be so kind as to return the favor?
You can cut & paste, if you like:
Sticks of Fire: a Tampa website
Thanks for your consideration.
tommy
Sorry to post this request in your comments but i could not find your contact information.

Well, Tommy, I don’t have a blogroll per se and haven’t for, oh, maybe four years. But I do want to recognize certain special blogs, so I’ve gone and created a whole new category just for you: Blogrolling. In this category (of which this is the first entry) I will periodically post short snippets about blogs that should be considered part of my “blogroll.”

So here’s yours: Sticks of Fire is not Tampa’s first weblog, nor its most prolific, but it may be the Bay Area’s most decorated. Showered with awards from local free culture papers like the Weekly Plant (or whatever it’s called now) Sticks of Fire is widely considered Tampa’s best blog about Tampa. Though reading Sticks, my wife and I had the chance to meet local author Wendy Boucher (and I got designated the “hottie husband” which is all good, ’cause the missus won’t take me for granted if she knows I got options, y’know)

Anyway, Sticks of Fire is the place to go if you’ve got a jones for Tampa-based weblog goodness. Enjoy.

(Oh, and by the way, tommy, and anyone else looking for my “contact” page, it’s here. Linked from the front page, too.)