Six Years and Rolling (but who's counting?)
Once again, dear friends, March 1st has come and gone and I've been hit by the realisation that I utterly failed to mark my own "blogiversary" for about the fourth straight year in a row.
As of March 1st, 2007, this blog has been up and running for six straight years (or one metric aeon in Interweeb time).
Of course, not one of you sent me any kind of a "Happy Blogday" message or a cake or anything, but then given my own apparent indifference to the passing of the blog years, I'll forgive you.
The first time I remember missing my own "Blogday" was back in 2003. I'm reposting here an updated version of what I wrote back then, as I'm still quietly and smugly amused by the thing...
Taking the glass-half-full POV, I'm choosing to see this non-event for what it really is: an epoch-defining moment of mass Collaborative IndifferenceTM on a scale not seen before.
Never in the field of human conflict was so little cared about not much by so few readers.
Indeed, I think we can safely say that this was the first time in the brief history of the weblog phenomenon that the entire Blogosphere was absolutely united in not giving a tinker's cuss about a nodal point in this magnificent shared narrative being woven by us all.
So utterly unanimous was our apathy in this respect that, in truth, even I failed to give a stuff about the passing of what might conceivably be considered a quite extraordinarily insignificant anniversary.
If only we could harness this awesome power and put it to good use! Imagine the effect of such grand scale Collaborative Indifference directed towards the situation in Iraq, for example.
If the massed might of the American military machine could only be infected with this entirely healthy attitude of impassive lack of interest. David Petraeus could yell until he was blue in the face - not one of those U.S. squaddies would be bothered to crawl out of their bunks and head into town to kick up trouble.
I think I'm onto something here. Off to see my IP lawyer tomorrow (heck if British Telecom could attempt to patent the hyperlink, surely there's room for a patent on "who gives a monkey's"?).
As of March 1st, 2007, this blog has been up and running for six straight years (or one metric aeon in Interweeb time).
Of course, not one of you sent me any kind of a "Happy Blogday" message or a cake or anything, but then given my own apparent indifference to the passing of the blog years, I'll forgive you.
The first time I remember missing my own "Blogday" was back in 2003. I'm reposting here an updated version of what I wrote back then, as I'm still quietly and smugly amused by the thing...
-----
Taking the glass-half-full POV, I'm choosing to see this non-event for what it really is: an epoch-defining moment of mass Collaborative IndifferenceTM on a scale not seen before.
Never in the field of human conflict was so little cared about not much by so few readers.
Indeed, I think we can safely say that this was the first time in the brief history of the weblog phenomenon that the entire Blogosphere was absolutely united in not giving a tinker's cuss about a nodal point in this magnificent shared narrative being woven by us all.
So utterly unanimous was our apathy in this respect that, in truth, even I failed to give a stuff about the passing of what might conceivably be considered a quite extraordinarily insignificant anniversary.
If only we could harness this awesome power and put it to good use! Imagine the effect of such grand scale Collaborative Indifference directed towards the situation in Iraq, for example.
If the massed might of the American military machine could only be infected with this entirely healthy attitude of impassive lack of interest. David Petraeus could yell until he was blue in the face - not one of those U.S. squaddies would be bothered to crawl out of their bunks and head into town to kick up trouble.
I think I'm onto something here. Off to see my IP lawyer tomorrow (heck if British Telecom could attempt to patent the hyperlink, surely there's room for a patent on "who gives a monkey's"?).
-----
And so there you have it. Happy (belated) Blogday to me.
For those of you (the majority) who've been spared the dubious benefit of "enjoying" this thing since day one, here are a few choice links from the archives that might still be worth reading (IMHO, YMMV, usual disclaimers apply, etc.):
The piece that got me blogging in the first place. Originally written as part of a tribute project for my parents' 40th Wedding Anniversary. I shared this with a handful of close friends - a few of whom encouraged me to post it online somewhere, along with some of the other long, ranty pieces I'd been posting to the original Cluetrain email list. All of which led, in a roundabout way, to me launching this blog - so that I'd have somewhere to store my rants and soppy bits. (posted March 2, 2001)
An article from 2001 on the sheer inanity of most tech PR - sad to note that so little has changed in the intervening years (although I think my writing, at least, has improved considerably since I wrote this piece).
An early rant on the topic of blogging and PR (posted April 16, 2003)
Two old links to things I still find beautiful and appealing examples of the best of the Web, for very different reasons:
The Fibonacci Series explained.
A joyous, lovely dancing thing.
An entertaining little exercise in Unigoogling that could use an update. Volunteers? (posted April 13, 2003)
The famous "Moen faucet" post that still draws visitors to this blog from all over the place, four and a half years later. (Caution - very long, very tedious rant. If you're planning to read the whole thing; bring your lunch. Posted November 7, 2002)
And finally, a link from my "drafts" folder that never did manage to make it into a full post. Back in 2002, I wrote about an early, utterly horrible example of a faked "authentic voice" campaign put together by Microsoft's PR people, pointing to this piece in the New York Times.
Not quite sure why it never made it out of the drafts folder, but the original NYT story is still well worth reading. Lest we forget. Interesting to think that if this thing had transpired a year or so later, it would probably have been a fake blog, not just a fake online testimonial.
And in case you're wondering - yes, Tuesday's root canal was indeed a grim experience, but I'm feeling a lot better now, thanks.
For those of you (the majority) who've been spared the dubious benefit of "enjoying" this thing since day one, here are a few choice links from the archives that might still be worth reading (IMHO, YMMV, usual disclaimers apply, etc.):
The piece that got me blogging in the first place. Originally written as part of a tribute project for my parents' 40th Wedding Anniversary. I shared this with a handful of close friends - a few of whom encouraged me to post it online somewhere, along with some of the other long, ranty pieces I'd been posting to the original Cluetrain email list. All of which led, in a roundabout way, to me launching this blog - so that I'd have somewhere to store my rants and soppy bits. (posted March 2, 2001)
An article from 2001 on the sheer inanity of most tech PR - sad to note that so little has changed in the intervening years (although I think my writing, at least, has improved considerably since I wrote this piece).
An early rant on the topic of blogging and PR (posted April 16, 2003)
Two old links to things I still find beautiful and appealing examples of the best of the Web, for very different reasons:
The Fibonacci Series explained.
A joyous, lovely dancing thing.
An entertaining little exercise in Unigoogling that could use an update. Volunteers? (posted April 13, 2003)
The famous "Moen faucet" post that still draws visitors to this blog from all over the place, four and a half years later. (Caution - very long, very tedious rant. If you're planning to read the whole thing; bring your lunch. Posted November 7, 2002)
And finally, a link from my "drafts" folder that never did manage to make it into a full post. Back in 2002, I wrote about an early, utterly horrible example of a faked "authentic voice" campaign put together by Microsoft's PR people, pointing to this piece in the New York Times.
Not quite sure why it never made it out of the drafts folder, but the original NYT story is still well worth reading. Lest we forget. Interesting to think that if this thing had transpired a year or so later, it would probably have been a fake blog, not just a fake online testimonial.
And in case you're wondering - yes, Tuesday's root canal was indeed a grim experience, but I'm feeling a lot better now, thanks.
