Left Flank

it's upgrade time again!

Let's see if WP 2.5.1 and I can get along without too much manual intervention.

See you...whenever!

Update: Finally, the WP 2.5 upgrade installation-and-directory and-database switch is completed! In the process, my ISP shut off uploading (shades of PRC?), dragging the ordeal into hours-long tedium full of frantic support-mongering and manual and single file uploading. So, I let Install4Free handle it. It was a big mistake thinking upgrading would only take the mythical few minutes.

Psshheww! I've restored the thing to a semblance of its former simplicity, but inform me if it's buggy or altered! I have to play with the new WP later!

Now, plenty of coursework to do! Hiatus alert!

Original: For the second time, I tried to upgrade from WP 2.3.3 to 2.5. For the second time, I was assaulted by niggling errors that wasted my time. I apologize for the downtime! I'm going to keep the plugins inactivated for now, and try again later.

I have tried since this afternoon to upgrade to WordPress 2.5…to no avail! I've just downgraded, and I'll try again this weekend.

I'm reading Immanuel Wallerstein for a class right now, and I have other projects to complete.

Really, I've had computer problems! Again!

About a week ago, my Firefox 2 browser started acted peculiarly. So, I actually flirted with Flock, which has advanced through a few more upgrades since I last encountered it. I gave Flock a decent courtship, but I missed Firefox. I have finally now corrected whatever went haywire, and all is well again.

Classes at Dong-A University also started two weeks ago, and it took a few days to adjust to that. I have a heavier teaching schedule compared to the last four years, including 3 classes marked as OT.

Finally, my own graduate classes start tomorrow. I've been excited before, but this is the last term. I honestly expect good things to come, even considering the past Internet problems. I'm taking IR 6601, Research Methods, in which I hope I can complete a project on the relationship between environmental catastrophes and civil war. Also, I'm taking IR 6633, Developed and Developing Nations. I'm excited because we're reading Immanuel Wallerstein, and discussing world-systems analysis. One of the IR traits I've picked up since my undergrad days was a a predilection for systemic perspectives over cultural and social ones. It's all very fitting, linking undergraduate IR to graduate IR.

So, my book reading will bloat considerably over periodicals. Fortunately, my PDA is well-stocked with e-books, so I still read most of my "pleasurable" reading on buses and subways to and from work, and between classes.

I have a feeling this term will affect this blog immeasurably.

It's been one of those days—again!

I've had work-related problems and computer glitches popping up all day long. Between my firewall malfunctioning, files a-deleting for no reason, and crawling into the innards of my hard drive, I'm finger-tied and my eyes are stinging. And, with the start of new semester at Dong A University, I'm beginning to get the hint I should have left last year for the States instead of next.

I read some chapters and listened to bhTV as I waited for this, that, and wasn't uninstalling and rebooting, emailing and checking schedules, etc. But, really, right now, I'm crawling into a book, or a movie with lots of gratuitous violence in it, and starting tomorrow afresh.

That is, if I'm not uninstalling and rebooting again early in the morning!

Blogging was delayed because of a bad monitor and a busted fan. Both components are now replaced. I'm typing from a 1680 x 1050 LCD monitor, and the tower's fan is nearly silent. I'm sorry for the absence!

Thanks to Brendan, Left Flank has a new look.

Although I still haven't figured out how to enable "previewing", 1 Blog Theme 1.2 by Javier Garcia—check out the footer!—just looks smart and clean. Everything just works—immediately—and there are functionalities the other themes I've used lacked. I don't think I'm even going to change fonts.

Tell me what you think!

Having survived the end of 2007, I turn to 2008 with the same blog. Confusing even to me, Left Flank has wandered in the blogosphere without a consistent theme. It started as a moderate liberal weblog with a realist perspective on international relations. But then, it just became a personal blog. I've thrown in a few more videos, cartoons, and photos, along with shorter posts.

Some time ago I decided to post no more than five paragraphs at a time, but I sometimes overshot that mark this year. I also endeavored to include at least two links, preferably opposing each other. And, I aimed for some sort of irony.

Here are Left Flank's 2007 stats. Basically, when I blogged, I got traffic. And, the reason I didn't blog was because of work (go figure).

2008 Project: Left Flank's geographical range will remain the Asia-Pacific area (DPRK, Japan, PRC, RP, ROK, Taiwan), with secondary emphasis on the US as it relates to the Asia-Pacific area. My interest is in international relations, not domestic political or economic news. After a long, self-imposed hiatus, I will also blog about the Koreas, including inter-Korean relations, the two Korea's relations with the rest of the region and world, and Busan. I will also blog about other regions as they relate to the Asia-Pacific region.

Topically, I want to explore the confluence of geopolitics and globalizing forces, such as trade, finance, immigration, and culture on the region, and in general. I want to explore themes I've studied in Barnett, Barber, Huntington, Kaplan, Keohane and Nye, Gilpin, Slaughter, Klare, Friedman, Stiglitz, Rodrik, and numerous others. Left Flank will continue to talk about democracy, complex interdependence, and all kinds of power, from cultural to economic to military. International organizations will also receive attention.

As always, irony and paradox are particular delicacies.

I want to return also to writing book reviews.

I will continue to post video clips, photographs, and cartoons.

I will return to the five-paragraph limit as a writing model. And, I will attempt to post at least once a day.

For the two people who might have read this blog this year, I appreciate your attention. If you left a comment (and this blog exceeded the record for comments), I hope you would continue to participate.

Happy New Year!

(11:31) Upgrade is complete. Due to a slow connection and some server problems, it took awhile and some TLC!

I will start the upgrading process for WP 2.3.2 in a few minutes. Please excuse the inconvenience.

Voila!

After taking the quick road through the WordPress Forums, and now the slow road through my plugins, I have found the plugin responsible for disappearing my posts, Text Control. Obviously, it don't like WP 2.3.1!

So, I'm back in business...after I pull my fist out of the wall! Thanks, James Turnball, for your encouraging comments and emails.

Stay Tuned!

I tweaked the stylesheet today and pruned some plugins. I can never have enough BLUE! I also had far too many plugins concerned with tags seemingly doing nothing, if my monthly stats count for anything. I still have SEO, which will become standard in the next WordPress upgrade. I also finally installed a «Now Reading» plugin on the sidebar, to complement the two photo albums.

As I waste time here, I've been thinking about time management and blogging. I admire bloggers who devote themselves to, say, all things Busan. But, call me old school, but I always thought blogging was about unhindered, unedited expression. At one point, I considered blogs the first draft of a future article or, oh prideful me, a book. Turning LF into a glorified magazine (and sometimes I think the only reason readers like blogs is because they're free, free-access, and free) just makes me recoil.

So, this is yet another temporary adjustment. I'll blog about the Koreas, China, Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines (why the RP is just like the US, only with different weather and checks and balances like mud-wrestling). The Scott Beauchamp fracas awakened me to my former career, and the need for bloggers with a moderate leftist orientation to discuss military issues. And, above all, geopolitics and International Relations in general. I used to have this formula: if the story involved two countries, I would blog it; inside-the-Beltway mud-slinging was off-limits! But, elections are fun, and I have no desire to clone this site and multiply my headaches with code.

Well, there it is...for a few months.