Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Monday, September 14, 2009

Being a lucky ducky

By Dave Anderson:


I was laid off late last week.  I am fine and my family is fine too.  This was not unexpected.  As I was cleaning my desk and reading through a work-log and scratch pad, I saw a note from early March that I scribbled before a meeting without an agenda with my supervisor and her boss.  I jotted down the probabilities of the topics as "30% technical advice for Scenario A, 30% technical advice for Scenario B, 5% chance they need technical advice for Scenario C or D,30% chance they are laying me off, and 5% chance I will be transferred."  They needed advice on Scenario B.  My group had seen most of our revenue and mission evaporate in July and the remaining programs that we are responsible for are approaching the fiscal event horizon.  This was not a surprise.


I have been laid off before.  This time, since we knew it was coming, we have been able to make the slow adjustments to get ready.  My plan is to enjoy this week where my daughter is still in daycare to start figuring out what I want to do next as well as sleep in at least once.  After that, once unemployment kicks in, I will watch my daughter in the mornings, look for work in the evenings and hopefully be able to carve out a couple of hours to write, and more importantly, to read much longer and larger pieces that I could previously read while working full time and having a life. 



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