Tomorrow morning I hit the road for a two week run of dog shows. I’ll have net access off and on, but for the most part you’ll be in the hands of our capable guest bloggers.
Mind your manners, and check out the blogroll should things get slow.

I’m taking a sick day (migraine). See you later.

It’s the last long weekend of the summer, folks. SDA blogging frequency will diminish accordingly.

Well, this is clumsy quoting. In fact, it’s not a direct quote at all; more a cherry-picking of statements from a 10 minute interview, strung together and placed in quotation marks;

“When someone’s just blogging anonymously because of employment concerns or whatever, it doesn’t matter,” said Catherine McMillan, who writes a political blog called Small Dead Animals. Government critics in oppressive regimes have every right to secrecy, she added. “As soon as you use anonymity as a shield, to set up hate sites or write outrageous things, you should expect anything and everything to come back at you.”

That said, it does bear a passing resemblance to what I told Susan Krashinsky. I explained that there are individuals who choose anonymity for employment reasons, for reasons of personal safety (bloggers in war zones); while there are others (I mentioned the once anonymous Richard Fernandez of Belmont Club fame) who simply prefer their content to stand on its own merit.
However, I also hold that when individuals exploit anonymity to defame or, as has happened in my case, actually create a site to write under my stolen identity, they should expect everything and anything to come back at them.
Anonymity isn’t a right of blogging, it’s a tool. Use it appropriately, and few will take issue with your choice. Use it to misrepresent, attack and defame, and all bets are off. Someone will be out to get you.
Besides, anyone who uses Google’s platform to shield their identity is a fool to begin with. Contrary to the title of the piece – “The virtual end of online anonymity “ the ability to write anonymously on line remains a keystroke away from your nearest offshore server.
Update: Right on cue, an anonymous commentor pops into the Globe and Mail comments section to defame me.

What began as roof repairs on part of my house has progressed to a room with wide open sky, ripped out walls, and partial floor replacement. As a result, much of my time has been devoted to helping that project move along as quickly as possible. .. and doing what I can myself to keep costs down.
Thus, blogging will be quite low on my list of priorities for the next week or two. If content gets a bit stale, or your excellent tips go unreported, I apologize – but there are only so many hours in a day!

I’m doing normal stuff this weekend with family, so things are going to become quite slow around here until I’m back sometime Sunday. So, check out the links on the blogroll and if that fails, turn off the computer and go enjoy your weekend!

As Lance has noted earlier today, I should be home and back to running this thing full time by Sunday.
Thanks to all of the guest bloggers who’ve been filling in – your support is very much appreciated, and I hope the readers here will reciprocate by adding these folks to your regular reading rounds.
We’ve had a really good show circuit. A couple of days ago Carmen won the last points she needed for her title, and is now Am.Can.Ch.Minuteman Madrid

(photo from an earlier show)
… while a dog I’m showing for a friend (Am.Can.Ch.Kaydees When Yur Hot Yur Hot) also completed his American championship title today with a breed win (his second such win of the trip, and fourth major).
For those of you who follow the dog blogging here, he’s a son of Am.Can.Ch.Minuteman Fixation, who flew to China with me just over a year ago.
I doubt I’ll be back online in the morning – too early a start and I want to get on the road as quickly as possible. So we’ll catch you Sunday.
After I’ve had a long hot bath and a nap.

A toxic coward loses his anonymity .
Update: as for the debate over publishing his personal info …

We’re still on the road, killing a day off half way through this soggy trip through Idaho and Montana. We’ve had lots of success in the ring, picking up 4 majors and 6 reserves with the crew I have in the truck, including a big Best of Breed win from the Bred-by class for my young female, Can.Ch.Minuteman Madrid yesterday in Blackfoot, ID. Three more points and she’s finished her title.
If you have never had the opportunity to drive the various highways in this region of the world, you owe it to yourself to do it some day. Great Falls, Missoula, Helena, Butte, Bozeman, Yellowstone, Missoula – you cannot truly appreciate the landscape here without experiencing it in person.
Thanks to the guest bloggers, once again, for picking up the slack around here. I’ll be back in around a week.

It’s that time of year again. I’ll be leaving today for an extended show circuit over the next two weeks, and while I’ll be online from time to time, posting will be decidedly intermittent.
In the meantime, our guest bloggers and the blogroll should keep you entertained.
Or failing that, push back your chair, get out and enjoy the snow!

Check it out here.

A poll that asks to go horribly wrong, offered up to a blogosphere where there are people who can make it happen…
Update – on display, the spectacular reading comprehension skills of today’s Liberal. “Small Dead Animals is lobbying her readers to get me to stop! Is she a scared dead animal, or something?”
Can anyone point out to me where I’ve told readers how to vote? No, they can’t. Because that would be cheating, and cheating is for Liberals!
Upperdate – The poll is rapidly and abruptly closed. With the “pier option” rapidly overtaking all others that were once on offer, it looks like someone’s afraid of the democratic will of the people, or in other words – a Liberal.
Screenshot

I did a fairly lengthy segment on Adler today, just after interviews with Kathy Shaidle and Chris Selley. It should be up on the audio vault soon. I think it’s part of the 3pm time slot. Update: I’m told it starts at around 2:35pm. I don’t do Windows, so can’t check for myself.

And you don’t mess around with SDA.

Things are going to be unusually busy work wise here over the next couple of days, so blogging is likely to be slow. Check out the links on the sidebar!

With Paul Burgin.
(link fixed)

But this is pretty funny, nonetheless…

It’s a long weekend, it’s spring,and we’re finally being promised temperatures in the double digits.
I plan to get out and enjoy it, so things will be very slow here until Monday. I advise you do the same!

All good things must come to an end, it seems.
Head on over and extend a pioneer of the Canadian blogosphere your thanks for a blog well done.
(Damian – any time you feel the itch return, you’re welcome to drop in here as a guest.)

Yes, I’m back. We left Chicago at 6:30 Sunday night and rolled into Delisle 25 hours later.
As you might expect, it’s going to take me a day or two to bring blogging activity back up to normal. Aside from checking the Drudge Report once while I was there to reassure myself that the sky is still falling, I’ve been out of the current events loop completely.
Thanks again to the guest bloggers who kept the place running while I was gone – be sure to bookmark their sites and return the favour by including them in your daily stops.