chrissie

If you ever wondered what went on behind closed doors of a secret society, then you may want to have a look at the “Masonic Traveler’s Blog“. While you may not be given privilege to the secrets of this society, at least you will be given the opportunity to learn more about it. The blogger wishes to bring to you a pursuit of an understanding of “the divine in context of the relativism of man over his nihilistic individuality. We are in this together.” As I don’t quite understand that quote, I am going to guess it has something to do with the Masonry, as the secret societies and Greek organizations are highly ordered and speak very divinely. That being said, not understanding that will not mean you won’t enjoy the blog. If nothing else, you will get an education from reading this blog. You will learn that “free masonry is an order that is fraternal (men only) and is founded on the universal belief in the Divine, illustrated by a certain landmark of tenants and virtues, that teach symbolically a progressive system of discovery that leads ultimately to a personal degree of self-improvement and an inclination towards the betterment of society.”

The journey of the blog is the journey of one man’s Freemasonry experiences, and he stresses that it is not a vehicle of any specific lodge or Grand Lodge. He is interested in the exotic aspects of the work, and hopes to bring his enlightenings to you. You can get a feel for any of these enlightenings through the recent posts What is Freemasonry? That Shrine Guy, Chicken Little, Free Mason Underground of Philadelphia, Impact, Good St. John the Baptist Day, The Role of Grand Lodges, Grail Call, Whole Lot of Meme’ing Going Around, and a Saintly Throngs.

Navigation on the site is fairly straightforward though there are some formatting issues with the right navigation bar which seem to be exclusive to Internet Explorer viewers. Posts are centered and there is both a left and right navigation bar. The left bar contains the “who is” information and information on free masonry. You will also find here the fraternity store, free masonry in the news, and advertising. In the right navigation bar, you won’t find much here, and you have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to get to it. This seems to be an IE issue, and not a format issue with the blog per se. In the right nav bar you will find the about me information, other Masonic blog links, blog widgets, advertising, and a menu with a listing of headlines current in masonry news. I like the headlines menus, there are updates from as little as 2 hours ago. I also like how the AdSense is incorporated into the blog design, it is barely noticeable. I am generally not fond of the white text on black background look, but it seems to suit the mood of this blog so I won’t think twice about it. I did have problems with empty space in the right nav bar however that simply said “text text text” or “more to come”. These spots are better left empty than with text essentially advertising there is no content to put there. I also did not see either a categories menu or a recent posts menu which to me are two critical blog features. These make usability of the blog so much more appealing for readers and I do recommend them to the blogger.

I will go with a 3 for this one, and I think my main suggestions have already been indicated. I think the blog is well written, so content wise it will not lose points here. There are appropriate pictures as well that are relevant to each post, and the theme of the blog is very interesting. The blog is also not losing points on activity, there was an updated post during my review, so that is always good to see active blogging. With just a few format changes, this blog could be a tremendous success. Best of luck!

Maybe you are and maybe you are not looking for a fresh take on the human existence. By fresh, I mean honest, which to many people are one and the same. Have a look at “Wonderland or Not” which is a personal blog that is ‘conceptually fragile’ and ‘left of most lines’. While this is far from an R Rated blog, you definitely need to be in the 18+ crowd to appreciate it. By that, I mean the musings are mature (though not adult rated) and are somewhat tongue in very honest cheek. The author writes here every day leftovers, random pop culture commentary, social commentary, political opinion, entries she terms ‘bad poetry’, about what concerns her and makes her laugh, of being the spawn of fiscally conservative liberals, and so much more. Still not quite sure what the blog is about? It is a personal one, containing personal musings with an intriguing Alice in Wonderland theme at its crux. That may not have told you much, but you have to spend some time here and do some quality reading to get a true feel for it. Some of the recents posts include: Follow Me I am Paying for Comments, As Bikini Kill so Aptly Put it…., Pay for Blog Comments – Monday Night Mash, The Loswer Nowickedwitch and the No go, The Heat is On, We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident and I Dreamed I was Dying, and I’m free to do what I want any old time.

Navigation on this site is very straightforward. Posts are left marginalized with black text on a white background and there is both a right navigation bar and a top menu. The right navigation bar contains asides and other places menus; recent posts menu; recent comments menu; subscription areas; and tags for personal musings on politics, pop culture, sex, sexism, and society. The top menu contains the about page, archives, blogroll, books, contact links, race, rings, and shop. There is also a very unique footer on the page with some abstract photos and a Wonderland quote on ‘going mad’. Other than that, there are no pictures on the site from what I could tell. Also, the blog does not contain any advertising so the author is using the blog entirely as a platform for her musings, and not for marketing, which is an interesting switch from most in the blog world.

I am giving this one a 3.5 Navigation was very easy, and activity was frequent as well. The content offers a unique juxtaposition between eloquent speak and personal voice which I really enjoyed reading. I think the uniqueness is heightened by the quirky Alice in Wonderland quotes as well. I would like to see some more pictures on this blog just for appearance sake, and perhaps a category menu as well. I am not sure if the author wants her posts organized, but as a reviewer I like to see that menu if for no other reason than the category listing gives me an idea of what content I am going to find there. Overall however, the blog is well done and has a good readership based on its content. There is little else I could offer in the way of feedback, as I suspect its success will continue.

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– Chrissie

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Well if this blog doesn’t make you want to up and get another hobby, I don’t know what will. This blog is called “A Kona Hawaii Scuba Diver Blabbers On” and while it sounds kind of rambly and not relevant to you, don’t let that keep you from looking. This blog is a nice little getaway to the island of Kailua-Kona if you can not get there yourself. Steve is the author of this blog and he is a Kona Scuba Instructor and Dive Charter operator. His blog is a little bit of ramblings of his experiences in both of these fields. If you have no interest in these fields, you will still want to have a look at some of the stunning photography he has listed on this site, you will feel like you are in Hawaii just from the site’s photos. His previous posts will give you an excellent example of that: “I found this unusual fish the other week…”, “Woke up at 4AM to a full moon over Hawaii this morning…”, “Woo hoo!! Oregon State University Beavers just win 2nd consecutive college world series!!”, “Wanna Dive’s New Dive boat is coming along”, “Hawaii’s otters have been migrating apparently”, “Been getting some rain lately” and so much more. In fact, the full moon post has an actual picture of the full moon he writes about. It is just breathtaking, as are the many other pictures but you have to go see them yourself.

Navigation on this site could not be simpler. The posts are centered down a background that is very Hawaiian. The main background is a pretty royal blue wavy pattern, and the centered background is a forest green with yellow text. There is a right navigation bar that includes a links menu, archive menu, links menu specific to the area of Kona, and a diving poll. There is also some advertising here, and I love the way Steve advertises. It is completely categorized into sections like Guide Books for example, so you almost can’t even tell it is advertising. He also has an animal of the day in the right nav bar which today, is a beautiful Argentine Grey Fox. And if you don’t quite yet feel the full Hawaiian jive, then you can check out the date and time stamp set in Kona time to give yourself a bit of setting. I really like the way he uses his voice in his writing as well, he signs off almost every post personally, for example – Later, Steve. So you get a true personal voice from this author and his experiences. I would not mind seeing more of an about page, though, the blog is so personal the entire blog almost functions as one in itself. The pictures are gorgeous, and relevant, and they are in just the right amount.

This blog will get a 4 from me, it is clearly doing well and my hat goes off to Steve’s longeivity. The blog has been around for years! I would suggest some more regular posting, as they are coming in about once weekly. Though it is clear this blogger is very busy, maybe just a dive tip of the day thrown in here and there would help. I also wouldn’t mind seeing a category menu which would also help bring in targetted technorati traffic more effectively. There are enough topics just from the posts on the main page that would allow for different categories, and it would organize the blog a little more. Otherwise, I think the blog is a fantastic one, and one of my favorite sporting blogs I have seen yet. I hope this blog does very well, so far it is on the right track.

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– Chrissie

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