Smudge Offers You His Current Author Portrait
Posted on January 24, 2022 Posted by John Scalzi 23 Comments

Actually, it might be his official CEO portrait. Honestly one can never tell with my cats these days. They are all very ambitious. As for me, it’s nice to know that if this writer thing falls through, I’ll have pet portraiture to fall back on.
In other news, Krissy and I are back home from our mini-vacation, which was to the Confusion convention up in Michigan, where I have attended every year since 2005, excepting last year, when no one attended, because plague. We are still in plague times, and thus the in-person convention was quite small this year, but those who did attended were all masked and vaxxed and took seriously the part where they were attempting not to infect each other. Krissy and I spent lots of time in our hotel room, lounging about and binging TV series and not being bothered by pets or household chores. It was pretty great. Also, I feel fine; let’s see how I feel in a couple of days (for the record, I expect to keep feeling fine).
This is also the weekend in which it finally actually turned into winter, which is to say that the temperatures dropped below freezing mostly for good, and snow both fell and started to stick. We have a field of white surrounding our house now. I’m enjoying it for the most part. Then again it’s going to get to just above zero (F) tonight, so we’ll see how much I continue to enjoy it when I’m out with Charlie, urging her to just poop, already, so we can both get back inside. I’d like to think she will cooperate. We will see.
Final note: Scalzi.Church is live as a Web address. It currently goes to a temp page (and may not be completely propagated across the internet yet, in case you get a 404. Don’t panic, it’ll be there eventually). I suspect we’ll build it out over time.
— JS
https://scalzi.church/ is giving me an SSL protocol error on Chrome 97.0.4692.99. The non-SSL version works, and redirects to your Q&A blog post.
Fixed!
If I try to open using http, I get a 404. If I try to open with https I get an error that security isn’t set up. :)
Clearly still a work in progress, but figured I’d let you know.
Definitely the Ruler of All He Surveys — a regal feline for sure.
Kent:
It’s still propagating across the Internet.
Just tried the church URL. Still gives the ‘insecure’ SSL problem error page. So, not quite fixed, at least from here.
Sounds like your hosting place needs to get the proper certificate installed for your site. And an htaccess redirect from http to https is always a good idea.
(RickH the geek)
BTW, not a propagation issue (at least on my access).
DNS resolves correctly, it’s just the SSL certificate is bad or doesn’t match the domain.
Excellent cat portrait!
Relatedly: after decades of bad professional photos, mostly bad because I was all uptight while they were being taken, a few years back I decided to try using a “boudoir” photographer to take my professional shots. I figured they were expert at getting people to relax. And it worked! Best portrait ever. (Maybe in part bc they had a hair and makeup person on site as part of the deal.)
This site can’t provide a secure connectionscalzi.church sent an invalid response.
ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR
Got this using:
Google Chrome
Version 97.0.4692.99 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Folks, you don’t have to leave error reports, thanks.
Definitely a CEO portrait – “Sir Smudgington, CEO Scalzi Religious Enterprises”, and underneath the corporate motto “WORSHIP ME, HOOMAN”.
Cat looks positively distinguished, and he was such a goofy kitten!
So would you be planning on a confessional? Penance where appropriate?
I confess to looking up authors and book titles on https://libgen.rs/fiction/ and have thereby benefited from that pirate site by discovering both authors and works that I never heard of elsewhere nor found in my local bookstores nor city and county libraries’ new books collection.
They make it so damned easy to find new reading.
Ambitious cats? I suppose with our pair there’s seeking food (5 min. per day, only because of travel time to the basement), and the 2 yr. old trying to play with the 12 yr. old (10-15 min. per day… only to learn repeatedly that his youthfulness has yet to overcome the older kitty’s mass).
That’s the junior Senator from the fine state of Ohio, Senator Smudge.
Given that organizing anything for Congress is more futile/difficult than herding cats, that’s an upgrade!
He always looks contented with life
huh… that’s odd when I tried that URL… I got…
“OUT OF CHEESE ERROR”
(so missing Terry Pratchett)
Definitely CEO. “Dogs have owners, cats have servants.”
OMG yes, why won’t the dog just poop already! It’s 1°F outside!
(Well, in my dog’s case, it’s because he has to get all four feet on the same square inch of snow selected for maximal poop perfection.)
When we go traveling, I pay a neighbor kid (not so much kid any more, Lyah will be graduating next year) to keep an eye on Ye Olde Homestead and take care of the resident gatos. Do you have something of the same arrangement with Athena, if she doesn’t have to be away with school obligations? Much less expensive and easier on the pets if you don’t have to shuffle them off to board them somewhere.
I’m looking forward to Smudge’s best selling book – Hooked on a Feline – A Unique View of John Scalzi by Smudge
this video… ultimate cat day spa…! ROFLing…
https://twitter.com/i/status/1486270939612565505
The link still redirects to the Q&A blog post. Is that expected?