Deep-Thoughts

Dave Winer points to a paper from a new colleague of his. His thesis is that a new super power is coming into existence to hold in check the United States. It’s about time, since it looks like we really need one. This brings to mind something else I heard on the radio, I forget where. Many people in other countries say, “We don’t hate Americans, we just hate their government.” And it would be nice if we could just shrug off our current administration’s deplorable diplomatic manner so easily. But we can’t, because our government is a government of the people. If you don’t like my government, you don’t like me. ...

If you have a blog, and no one reads it, is it really a blog? Or is it like the tree that falls in the forest with no one around? I’ve told exactly one person I have a blog, and even that was by mistake. I didn’t tell him the URL, though he is enterprising enough to find it himself. I’m not keeping it an Official Secret or anything. I guess I’m just trying an experiment to see how long I can be part of the blogosphere without people noticing. ...

I just haven’t posted in a while, that’s all. Hmm, why? I haven’t been extraordinately busy. I just haven’t had anything to say. I’m hoping to break the trend by saying something about not saying anything. One reason I haven’t had anything to say is that some of the things I have to say are not for public consumption. And though I have no readers of this blog that I know of, I know that this is a public space. One reason I decided to start this blog (apart from the simple need to understand this technology) is that I know that to be a good writer, you need to write. I value keeping a broad set of skills in good working order, so I want to be, among (many) other things, a very good writer. ...

I went with Dan to St. Steven’s Green today for lunch. I ordered Chicken Strips with salad. When I got mine, the first chicken strip looked just like the island of Great Britain. I picked it up by Scotland and dipped Wales in Ranch dressing before I noticed the similarity. So I immediately started digging through this pile of chicken to find an Ireland. And I found one! It was so cool to have my own little map on my plate. ...

Now, as Karl reminds me all the time, I do eat meat. But I am not a Meat EaterTM. My mother happily taught me to eat a lot of chicken and fish, and then dating a vegetarian pushed me over the edge to where I eat meat only a few meals a week, and even then it’s usually turkey sandwiches or something. The inexplicable rules I use to decide on which foods to eat would seem to make me something other than a vegetarian. One friend suggested “arbitrarian”. Suits me. ...

Megnut came across an article about something I’ve been thinking of as the new owner of a house from 1921. At my housewarming party, a neighbor showed up who had lived next door, looking at and wondering about my house for 37 years. She had never been inside it. She has now!

After yesterday’s musings about my copious net presence, it was interesting to run across this article.

OK, I really need to stop egosurfing and get to sleep. But look at this bizarre thing I found. I grew up in Oregon, and I’m all for wilderness conservation programs. Maybe they named the fund after me, once I left for California?

Look what I found… When searching for the old article about WebTV, I found a version of it translated into Japanese. My friend Lisa was pretty blown away by how much stuff she found about me on the net. Even I’m blown away to find a Japanese article quoting me.